Iran had no plans to host foreign delegations or send negotiators abroad in coming days, says spox Baghaei
\n TEHRAN
\nIran said on Monday that no negotiations with the United States were currently being held despite US President Donald Trump announcing earlier that the two sides were set to begin parleys later today. \u201cIran is not currently holding talks with the United States and is now in discussions with Oman over a temporary safe route through the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said in a televised press conference.
\nOn Sunday, Trump said that new negotiations with Iran would begin on Monday after he decided to hold off on striking the country to pursue a deal to end the war entering its sixth month. Trump told reporters that the talks would cover the Strait of Hormuz and ultimately, the denuclearisation of Iran. Oil prices fell on Monday at the opening of Asian trade after Trump announced the new negotiations, with West Texas Intermediate dropping 4.7 per cent to $80.72 per barrel.
\nFollowing a return to strikes last month, fears had mounted that the fighting could escalate once again. Trump had threatened to hit Iran \u201cvery hard\u201d and was reportedly considering renewed attacks including against energy infrastructure, with US embassies across the region on alert. Trump pulled back from that threat on Saturday, saying the \u201cparameters\u201d of a deal were there.
\n\u201cNow what we\u2019re doing is we\u2019re talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon,\u201d Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, without providing details of the venue or participants in the talks.
\nThe US president said he had been asked by Iran as well as US partners Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to hold off on the strikes, which he claimed would have been \u201cthe biggest attack since World War II\u201d. Iranian media denied that Tehran had asked Trump not to strike.
\nThe US president said at the start of the conflict that the war was necessary to deal with Iran\u2019s nuclear programme. Western nations accuse Iran of seeking a bomb, though Tehran insists the programme is entirely civilian in nature. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iran had no plans to host foreign delegations or send negotiators abroad in coming days, says spox Baghaei TEHRAN Iran said on Monday that no negotiations with the United States were currently being held despite US President Donald Trump announcing earlier that the two sides were set to begin parleys later today. \u201cIran is not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-559994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n