Iran and the United States are scheduled to resume indirect nuclear negotiations in Muscat, Oman, on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Tuesday.
“Based on the consultations, the next round of indirect Iran-U.S. talks is planned for next Sunday in Muscat,” said Baghaei, according to Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency.
This would mark the sixth round of nuclear talks since April 12.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the administration has a meeting with Iran slated for Thursday.
Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday that Washington had “conveyed a reasonable proposal to Iran and is due to receive an answer in the coming days,” according to a readout from Netanyahu’s office. The readout also stated that Trump “intends to hold an additional round of talks with Iran over the weekend.”
The Trump administration has not yet officially released a readout of the meeting, but the U.S. president addressed it while speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday.
His discussion with Netanyahu had been “very good,” Trump said in answer to a reporter’s question about the meeting. “We discussed a lot of things, and it went very well. Very smooth. We’ll see what happens.”
With regard to Iran, Trump said, “They are good negotiators, but they’re tough. Sometimes they can be too tough. That’s the problem. We’re trying to make a deal so that there’s no destruction and death, and we’ve told them that, and I’ve told them that.”
He added: “I hope that’s the way it works out, but it might not work out that way. We’ll soon find out.”
On Monday, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said the Iranian regime had repeatedly refused to provide his agency with credible answers regarding its nuclear activities at undeclared sites.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi told the agency’s Board of Governors in Vienna that he has been seeking explanations from the Islamic Republic about uranium particles found at the undeclared Varamin, Marivan and Turquzabad locations.
“Iran has repeatedly either not answered or not provided technically credible answers to the agency’s questions,” Grossi stated, accusing Tehran of seeking to “sanitize the locations,” which he said impedes the IAEA’s activities.
“The agency also concludes that Iran did not declare nuclear material and nuclear-related activities at these three undeclared locations in Iran,” Grossi told the 35-member policy-making body.
“As a consequence of this, the agency is not in a position to determine whether the related nuclear material is still outside of safeguards,” he said, meaning the IAEA cannot verify that nuclear materials are properly accounted for and not diverted for undeclared uses.
Unless Tehran cooperates with the IAEA to resolve the outstanding issues, the organization “will not be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful,” Grossi warned.
Speaking to reporters after his remarks to the quarterly meeting, Grossi accused the regime in Tehran of having obtained highly confidential IAEA documents.
“This dates to a few years ago, but we could determine with all clarity that documents that belong to the agency were in the hands of Iranian authorities, which is bad,” Grossi told journalists. “We believe that an action like this is not compatible with the spirit of cooperation.”
In response to a question about the possibility of Israeli military action against Iranian nuclear sites, Grossi said his agency was actively seeking to reduce escalating tensions in the Middle East.
“We are trying to solve this without the use of violence or force,” Grossi stated. “If it’s done correctly, thoroughly, with a very strong verification and monitoring chapter from us, it would give the necessary assurance for Israel and for the world that there is nothing to be feared coming from there.”
Regarding Iranian claims that the regime had acquired sensitive intelligence data on alleged Israeli nuclear activities, Grossi said the IAEA had not received any information regarding the files.
“This seems to refer to Soreq [Nuclear Research Center], which is a research facility that we inspect, by the way,” Grossi explained. “Normally, people tell me, ‘You don’t inspect Israel.’ Yes, we do … We don’t inspect other strategic parts of the program, but we do inspect Soreq,” added the Argentinian diplomat.
Israeli security analysts have dismissed Tehran’s claims as psychological warfare, while Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib warned on Monday that the seized documents would “soon” be made public.
The United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom are set to introduce a resolution at the IAEA meeting this week that would find the Islamic Republic in noncompliance with its nuclear safeguards obligations.
In May, the IAEA issued a confidential report to its board members, reportedly concluding that Tehran concealed nuclear activities and failed to declare materials at three sites.
A separate report circulated the same day concluded that the regime has enough nuclear material to build approximately nine nuclear weapons, though its stockpile of 60% enriched uranium remains below the 90% purity threshold considered “weapons grade.”