Iran has repeatedly turned down talks with the Trump administration while Washington keeps the door open for serious dialogue, a State Department spokesperson told Iran International on Thursday.
“As President Trump has repeatedly said, including at the UN General Assembly, the United States has kept the door open for serious and direct dialogue, even as Iran has consistently rejected negotiations,” the spokesperson said in response to an email inquiry.
Iran International asked if the State Department had any confirmation, clarification, or response regarding an alleged Iranian message sent to the US via the Saudi crown prince or any indirect diplomatic outreach from Tehran.
Last week, Reuters reported citing two sources familiar with the exchange that Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian had urged Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to help persuade US President Donald Trump to revive nuclear talks.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday denied reports that Tehran had sought to enlist Riyadh as an intermediary in talks with Washington, saying outreach to President Donald Trump was beneath Iran's dignity.
“They fabricate rumors claiming that Iran has sent a message to the United States through some country. It is pure lies. Nothing of the sort ever happened," Khamenei said in a speech.
"The Americans betray even their own friends ... A government of this kind certainly does not deserve for a state such as the Islamic Republic to seek relations or cooperation with it."
‘No peaceful purpose’
The United States held five rounds of negotiations with Tehran over its disputed nuclear program earlier this year, for which President Donald Trump set a 60-day ultimatum.
When no agreement was reached by the 61st day on June 13, Israel launched a surprise military offensive, followed by US strikes on June 22 targeting key nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow.
The State Department said Iran’s pre-strike uranium enrichment served no credible peaceful purpose.
“Prior to the United States’ successful military operation, Iran was amassing a growing stockpile of highly enriched uranium for which there was no credible peaceful purpose,” the spokesperson said. “Iran was the only state producing highly enriched uranium to this level that does not have nuclear weapons.”
Tehran denies seeking a nuclear weapon, but Western powers and Israel doubt its intentions.