Iran denies any meeting with US next week, foreign minister says

Iran currently has no plan to meet with the United States, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday in an interview on state TV, contradicting U.S. President Donald Trump's statement that Washington planned to have talks with Iran next week.

The Iranian foreign minister said Tehran was assessing whether talks with the U.S. were in its interest, following five previous rounds of negotiations that were cut short by Israel and the U.S. attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The U.S. and Israel said the strikes were meant to curb Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons, while Iran says its nuclear programme is solely geared toward civilian use.

Araqchi said the damages to nuclear sites “were not little” and that relevant authorities were figuring out the new realities of Iran’s nuclear programme, which he said would inform Iran’s future diplomatic stance.