Negotiations over Iran's nuclear program will begin on Tuesday in Qatar, according to the IRNA news agency, citing an Iranian Foreign Ministry source.
 
"Negotiations on Iran's nuclear program to lift US sanctions will begin on Tuesday in Qatar," the source told IRNA.

Since 2018, when then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from it and began reimposing harsh economic sanctions on Iran, the nuclear deal has been hanging by a thread.

Although US President Joe Biden's administration has sought to return to the agreement, saying it is the best way forward with the Islamic republic, it has expressed growing pessimism in recent weeks.

Read next: Iran seeking reliable, lasting JCPOA revival deal

The talks, according to Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh, will take place "in an Arabian Gulf country in the coming days, later this week" and will focus on the lifting of US sanctions.

Separately, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported, citing an unnamed foreign ministry source, that Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri would visit Qatar on Tuesday for "negotiations on lifting sanctions," and that the US-Iran indirect talks would take place there.

A State Department spokesperson in Washington confirmed that the talks would take place this week in the Gulf.

“We are prepared to immediately conclude and implement the deal we negotiated in Vienna for mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA,” he said, referring to the deal’s formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Khatibzadeh voiced hope for “positive results” from the talks.

Exclusive: Qatar may host indirect talks between Washington and Iran

Seyed Mohammad Marandi, A media advisor to the Iranian nuclear team, said earlier to Al Mayadeen on Monday, that Qatar will host indirect talks between Iran and the United States regarding reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement.

Speaking with Al Mayadeen, Marandi stated that Qatar is one of the options offered to host indirect negotiations between Iran and the US.

During EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell's visit to Iran, Tehran and Brussels are discussing the location for the coming JCPOA talks.

According to reports, Borrell had stated that Vienna would not host the next talks. "Talks between Iran, the United States, and European Union will not take place in Vienna because talks will not happen in US+P4+1 format," Borrell said.

He explained that the negotiations will be held in the coming days and that they will be similar to the indirect negotiations between Iran and the US in Vienna.