DUBAI, April 9. /TASS/. The talks between Iran and the United States in Oman will take place through intermediaries, not directly, as previously stated by the American administration, said Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.
"[Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas] Araghchi will convey the instructions of Supreme Leader [ayatollah Ali Khamenei] during indirect talks with the US representatives in Oman," Pezeshkian's press service quoted him as saying.
On April 7, US President Donald Trump said that the April 12 discussions between Iran and the United States would be direct. White House Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt confirmed this the following day.
However, the Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that Tehran does not intend to engage with Washington directly due to the United States' prior violation of a nuclear agreement. The American delegation will be led by Trump's special envoy Steven Witkoff, while the Iranian delegation will be led by Araghchi.
"If they believe that we are weakened and they can fight us, these are their naive illusions. The people of Iran will never allow foreigners or invaders to be in our country. Iran has never been a colony because the Iranians did not allow it. We have fulfilled our commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. It's them (USA -TASS) who withdrew from it. Our actions were only a response to their threats," Pezeshkian added.
"Our position on specific issues, which the supreme leader has repeatedly expressed, is clear and firm, and I hope dialogue will take place on other issues on which we can cooperate," he said.
The Iranian nuclear issue
In 2015, Iran, Britain, Germany, China, Russia, the United States, and France signed a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), ending the crisis that began in 2002 due to Western accusations of Tehran's development of nuclear weapons.
However, in 2018, during Trump’s first presidency, the US withdrew from the JCPOA and reinstated all its sanctions against Iran.
In response, in 2020, Iran reduced its obligations under the JCPOA and restricted access to inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Negotiations to resume the nuclear deal, which took place in Vienna from 2021 to 2022, fell through. Upon returning to the White House in 2025, Trump signed a decree to renew maximum pressure on Iran and threatened to use military force if Tehran did not agree to a new deal.
On March 7, Trump stated that he had proposed to Khamenei to hold talks on the nuclear program. Tehran refused to engage in direct dialogue but allowed negotiations to continue through intermediaries.
On March 30, Trump vowed to impose additional tariffs in two weeks on Iran if the negotiations on the nuclear program fail. He also threatened the Islamic Republic with an unprecedented bombing if it rejects the deal. In response, Khamenei noted that he did not believe in a US military intervention but warned that any attempt to provoke unrest in Iran would be met with a decisive rebuff.
On October 18, Western countries will be able to activate a mechanism that automatically restores UN Security Council sanctions against Tehran. Iran has said that in this case, it will withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, although its development is officially prohibited by Khamenei's 2003 decree.