Iran: New round of nuclear talks with US planned for Sunday
Trump calls Iranians good negotiators but tough
Iran's Foreign Ministry said a new round of nuclear talks with the United States is being planned for Sunday, after US President Donald Trump said it was expected on Thursday.
"The next round of Iran-US indirect talks is being planned for next Sunday in Muscat," Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement Tuesday.
Iran and the United States have held five rounds of talks since April to thrash out a new nuclear deal to replace the 2015 accord with major powers that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
On May 31, after the fifth round of talks, Iran said it had received "elements" of a US proposal for a nuclear deal, with Araghchi later saying the text contained "ambiguities".
Iran said on Monday the US proposal was "lacking elements" reflective of the previous negotiations and that it would present a "reasonable, logical and balanced" counter-proposal to the United States through mediator Oman.
Trump said on Monday that the next round of the talks could clarify if a nuclear deal is possible or not. He made clear that the two sides remained at odds over Iran’s uranium enrichment.
"We're doing a lot of work on Iran right now," Trump said at an economic event at the White House.
“They are good negotiators, but they're tough. Sometimes they can be too tough, that's the problem,” Trump added.
“They’re just asking for things that you can’t do. They don’t want to give up what they have to give up,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “They seek enrichment. We can’t have enrichment.”
Iran and the United States have recently been locked in a diplomatic standoff over Iran's uranium enrichment, with Tehran defending it as a "non-negotiable" right and Washington calling it as a "red line".
On Monday, Baqaei criticized the US proposal as “lacking elements” reflective of the previous rounds of negotiations, without providing further details.
“The US’s proposal is [simply] the US's proposal; naturally, any negotiating party can make proposals on their own part, but this proposal has not considered any of the issues raised by Iran,” Baqaei added.
“We will soon submit our own proposed plan to the other side through (mediator) Oman once it is finalized,” Baqaei told a weekly press briefing. “It is a proposal that is reasonable, logical, and balanced, and we strongly recommend that the American side value this opportunity.”