Iran’s acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri has said that his government was engaged in negotiations with arch-foe the United States hosted by the Gulf sultanate of Oman.
Responding to a question about the issue at a news conference in Beirut, Bagheri said “we have always continued out negotiations… and they have never stopped.”
Washington and Tehran have not had diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.
The British daily Financial Times reported in March that Bagheri was involved in indirect talks with the United States in Oman in early 2024, against the backdrop of heightened regional tensions over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The United States is Israel’s close ally and top provider of military assistance, while Iran backs the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Bagheri arrived Monday in Lebanon, on his first foreign trip since assuming the interim role following the death of Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a helicopter crash last month that also killed Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi.
Bagheri, Iran’s former top nuclear negotiator, said discussions with Western powers about Tehran’s atomic activities were ongoing.
Western governments fear Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapon — a claim the Islamic republic has always denied.
