Iran says 'no specific date' for US nuclear talks

TEHRAN: Iran said Monday it had “no specific date” for a meeting with the United States on Tehran’s nuclear programme, following a war with Israel that had derailed negotiations.

“For now, no specific date, time or location has been determined regarding this matter,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei of plans for a meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff.

Iran had been negotiating with the United States before Israel began strikes on its nuclear facilities last month, which Washington later joined.

Araghchi and Witkoff met five times, starting in April, without concluding a deal, before Israel launched surprise strikes on June 13, starting a 12-day war.

“We have been serious in diplomacy and the negotiation process, we entered with good faith, but as everyone witnessed, before the sixth round the Zionist regime, in coordination with the United States, committed military aggression against Iran”, said Baqaei.

The United States launched its own set of strikes against Iran’s nuclear programme on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, in Qom province south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz.

The extent of the damage from the strikes remains unknown.

With its own strikes, numbering in the hundreds, Israel killed nuclear scientists and top-ranking military officers as well as hitting military, nuclear and other sites.

Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on Israel, while it attacked a US base in Qatar in retaliation for Washington’s strikes.

Israel and Western nations accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.

While it is the only non-nuclear power to enrich uranium to 60-percent purity, close to the level needed for a warhead, the UN’s atomic energy watchdog has said it had no indication that Iran was working to weaponise its stockpiles.