Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered nuclear talks with the United States to begin, the pro-regime news agency Fars reports, citing an informed government source.
No information about where, when or how the talks will take place has come from Iran, but US outlets Axios and The New York Times report that US special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. The meeting will take place in Istanbul on Friday, according to media sources.
Witkoff meets Netanyahu
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Tehran, Esmail Baqaei, said on Monday that mediation involving other countries in the region is underway and that a framework for how the talks should proceed could be completed within days. The American media also report that the Istanbul meeting comes after intensive diplomatic work by Turkey, Egypt and Qatar.
That meeting comes after Steve Witkoff is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir on Tuesday ahead of nuclear talks with Iran, according to Israeli sources. The discussions are likely to be about Iran, after Zamir was in Washington over the weekend for talks with US defense officials, according to The Times of Israel.
According to the Iranian side, further official talks with the US will take place entirely on the issue of nuclear energy. But Iran does not want to acknowledge that it has been faced with a US ultimatum.
Steps towards conversation
When asked if Iran has received a direct ultimatum from the US, Esmail Baqaei replied:
"Iran is a country that always behaves honestly and seriously in diplomatic processes, but never accepts ultimatums."
The US has sent a large naval fleet to the region and President Donald Trump has warned that "time is running out," as he has urged Iran to meet him in negotiations.
Last week began with threatening tones from both the US and Iran, but this weekend both sides spoke of taking steps towards concrete talks.
"(Iran) is talking to us, and we'll see if we can do something, or we'll see what happens. We have a large fleet on its way there," Donald Trump said on Friday.
