“First of all, on Saturday, I will not move forward with the president. He said he will meet in person with Iran on Saturday,” White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday.
She reflected President Donald Trump’s claim that both sides would launch “direct” talks in Oman.
“We discussed in person with Iran and they started. It’s going on Saturday. We’ll have a very big meeting and we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday at a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
However, Foreign Minister Abbas Arakich has said several times that the negotiations will be “indirect.”
On Tuesday evening, Arakichi said Washington agreed to hold indirect negotiations.
“As long as there is “maximum pressure” and threat, there is no basis for fair negotiations and no direct negotiations will take place,” he said.
On March 7, US President Donald Trump announced that he had sent a letter to Iran calling for nuclear negotiations. Tehran responded to the letter later that month, saying it refused to directly discuss with Washington about a contradictory and hostile approach, but remained open to indirect negotiations.
rhm/