Iran denies fresh push for nuclear talks with US

• Says Trump turned ‘America First’ slogan into ‘Israel First’

By John Ogunsemore

Iran has denied reports that it has begun a fresh push to resume nuclear talks with the United States.

Secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, Ali Larijani said reports in US media claiming that he had made a fresh push to resume nuclear talks with Washington were inaccurate.

“We will not negotiate with the United States,” he wrote on X.

Larijani’s rebuttal came after Wall Street Journal reported he made the fresh push through Omani mediators after the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran and the US last held indirect talks on Tehran’s nuclear program in Geneva on Thursday but walked away without a deal, the Associated Press reported.

Before the end of the talks mediated by Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, Iranian state television reported that Tehran was determined to continue enriching uranium, rejected proposals to transfer it abroad and sought the lifting of international sanctions, indicating it was not prepared to meet US President Donald Trump’s demands.

Meanwhile, Larijani has accused Trump of plunging the Middle East into chaos with his “delusional fantasies and now fears more American casualties”.

The US Central Command has confirmed three US soldiers have been killed and five others seriously wounded since the Israeli-US war on Iran began on Saturday.

According to the senior Iranian official, Trump has “turned his self-made ‘America First’ slogan into ‘Israel First’ and sacrificed American soldiers for Israel’s power-hungry ambitions.”