DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran is giving talks with its arch foe the United States this weekend “a genuine chance”, the Iranian foreign ministry’s spokesperson posted on X on Friday.
U.S. President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement on Monday that Washington and Tehran were poised to begin direct talks in Oman on Saturday over Iran’s nuclear program, warning that the Islamic Republic would be in “great danger” if the talks were unsuccessful.
The announcement caused some confusion because Iran had said the talks would be indirect with the Omanis acting as mediators.
Iran, previously stating it wouldn’t be bullied into negotiations, said that the U.S. should value this decision despite “their prevailing confrontational hoopla.”
“We intend to assess the other side’s intent and resolve this Saturday,” Esmaeil Baghaei added.
Iran’s state media said the talks would be led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and U.S. Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff, with the intermediation of Oman’s foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi.
(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Kim Coghill and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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