Iran today rejected any direct dialogue with the United States (US), but is not against indirect negotiations.
This is happening at a time when US President Donald Trump has proposed negotiations without intermediaries, but has also threatened to bomb Iran if diplomacy fails.
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Western countries, led by the United States, have suspected for decades that Tehran is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. Iran rejects these allegations and claims that its activities in the nuclear sector are only for peaceful purposes, specifically for energy.
Trump sent a letter to Iranian officials last month urging them to negotiate over their nuclear program. But the US president has also threatened to bomb Iran if diplomacy fails and imposed additional sanctions on Iran's oil sector.
"Direct negotiations with a party that constantly threatens to resort to force and whose various officials present contradictory positions would make no sense," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said last night, and his ministry announced today.
"But we remain committed to diplomacy and are ready to try the path of indirect negotiations," Aragshi added.
Iran and the United States, close allies during the Pahlavi monarchy, have not had diplomatic relations since 1980, after the taking of American diplomats hostage in the embassy in Tehran in the midst of the Islamic revolution.
The two sides maintain indirect contact through the Swiss embassy in Tehran. Oman has also played a role as a mediator in the past, and Qatar to a lesser extent. Trump's letter was delivered to Iran via the United Arab Emirates.
Trump said on Thursday that he would prefer to have direct negotiations with Iran, saying that things would go much faster and that the other side would be understood much better if it did not go through intermediaries.
Iranian President Masoud Pazakhstani, elected last year on a promise to continue dialogue with the West to gain sanctions relief and boost the economy, questioned why Trump was threatening if he wanted to negotiate.
In 2015, Iran concluded an agreement with the permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, Russia, the US, France and Britain) and Germany, under which Iran's nuclear activities were limited in exchange for the easing of sanctions.
Trump withdrew the US from the deal in 2018 during his first term and reimposed sanctions on Iran. In response, Iran distanced itself from the text of the agreement and accelerated the development of its nuclear program.
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