White House insist that talks with Iran will be direct

Region

April 9, 2025 08:16

White House insist that talks with Iran will be direct

The United States’ talks with Iran scheduled for April 12 will be direct, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists, Report informs.

"First of all, when it comes to Saturday, I won't get ahead of the President [of the US Donald Trump]. He has said there will be direct talks with Iran on Saturday. I won't further any details from this podium, for obvious reasons, security reasons," she said when asked to comment on Iran’s statement that the upcoming meeting will be held via a mediator.

On March 7, 2025, US President Donald Trump said that he had sent a message to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, proposing talks on the nuclear program. In late March, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that his country had used Oman’s mediation to send a response to Trump’s letter.

It was announced on Monday that the sides agreed to hold the first round of talks in Oman on April 12 and Araghchi and US special envoy Steven Witkoff will act as chief negotiators.

According to Trump, these will be direct talks. However, the top Iranian diplomat said that Tehran had opted for mediated negotiations to avoid pressure from Washington and was not planning to change the format of the Oman meeting.