US says ready to return to talks with Iran: Sources to Al Mayadeen
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Swiss Deputy FM delivers message from US envoy Steve Witkoff to Tehran, signaling Washington’s readiness to resume nuclear negotiations with guarantees.
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White House envoy Steve Witkoff arrives before a news conference with President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, August 15, 2025. (AP)
Western diplomatic sources told Al Mayadeen that Swiss Deputy Secretary of State Gabriel Luginger has conveyed a message from US envoy Steve Witkoff to Iranian officials in Tehran.
According to the sources, Witkoff’s message signaled Washington’s readiness to resume negotiations with guarantees that no conflict would erupt during the process, nor would any military escalations occur.
Unofficial Iranian sources also confirmed that Tehran received the message from Witkoff, which called for a return to talks on the nuclear file.
Iran says no decision taken yet
Earlier in the month, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that “nothing has been decided yet” regarding Iran-US nuclear talks, adding that the host country for a potential meeting has not been confirmed yet.
Speaking on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting, Araghchi also addressed the upcoming IAEA visit to Tehran, noting that the agency’s Deputy Director General will arrive on Monday.
Araghchi clarified that “there is no plan to visit any nuclear site before reaching an agreed framework,” stressing that this framework “will be based on the law of the Islamic Consultative Assembly” and that “cooperation will not begin before that.”
Iran withdrew from its talks with the United States after the latter attacked its peaceful nuclear program, bombing key nuclear facilities in several areas of the country following Israeli strikes that targeted the upper echelons of Iran's defense and nuclear officials.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei clarified in June that Iran sees no justification for engaging with a party actively backing the Zionist regime's military campaign.
His statement followed the brutal Israeli bombing of a residential neighborhood in Tehran that left 60 civilians martyred, including 20 children.
"Undoubtedly, in the current conditions, until the Zionist regime's aggression against the Iranian nation has not stopped, the participation in the dialogue with the party that is a key sponsor and partner of the aggressor is pointless," Baghaei stated.
