Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Tehran has received messages from Switzerland and Oman offering mediation between Tehran and Washington, but no talks are currently underway between the two estranged countries.
“Of course, there are some messages from other countries to mediate [between Iran and the US],” Zarif said in an interview with the Persian-language ‘Iran’ newspaper.
“The Embassy of Switzerland, as the country protecting US interests in Iran, has always conveyed messages [between Tehran and Washington] over the past 39 years and still does so,” he said.
Zarif further pointed to Oman’s mediation offers and said, “Of course, countries in the region, especially those who are as intelligent as Oman, would not like to see the current situation and want to take action to prevent the crisis from escalating.”
However, there has been no direct dialogue between the Iran and the US, the minister said following some media reports (denied by Tehran) that the US and Iran holding indirect talks under the auspices of the Omani leadership.
Muscat has been the venue of high-level, but unannounced, US-Iran meetings related to the nuclear agreement and other key disputes.
President Donald Trump last week voiced a willingness to meet with Iran's leaders without preconditions "whenever they want."
"I would certainly meet with Iran if they wanted to meet," Trump told a press briefing at the White House alongside Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on July 30.
"I do believe that they will probably end up wanting to meet. I'm ready to meet whenever they want to,” he added.
On May 8, Trump pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was signed in 2015 after long and tiring years of negotiations between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Following the US exit, Iran and the remaining parties started new talks to save the accord.
***Oil Export
Zarif said a US plan to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero will not succeed.
Senior US officials have said in recent weeks that they aim to pressure countries to stop buying oil from Iran in a bid to force Tehran to halt its nuclear and missile programs and involvement in regional conflicts.
“If the Americans want to keep this simplistic and impossible idea in their minds they should also know its consequences,” Zarif told the government newspaper.
“They can’t think that Iran won’t export oil and others will export.”
President Hassan Rouhani hinted last month that Iran could block the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route, if the US attempted to stop its oil trade.
Trump responded by noting that Iran could face serious consequences if it threatened the United States.
“The Americans have put together a war room against Iran,” Zarif said. “We cannot get drawn into a confrontation with America by falling into this war room trap and playing on a battlefield.”
