Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that, should any indirect negotiations begin between his country and the United States, Oman will be among the main candidates to mediate them.
He made the remarks at a weekly press conference in Tehran, while commenting on the possibility of indirect talks between Iran and the United States over the former's nuclear program and the third party's role in the process.
Baghaei said, "The track records of other parties' participation in advancing indirect negotiations (between Iran and the United States) are clear. In some cases, the European Union's foreign policy chief played this role, and, in recent years and before that, Oman has played this role well. If such a process begins, Oman will be among the main candidates for this task."
He described as being "generous and based on a responsible and wise decision" Tehran's response to a letter sent last month by U.S. President Donald Trump proposing talks on Iran's nuclear program, noting that the response was made given the issue's history and the processes relevant to the nuclear negotiations between Iran and other parties over the past decade.
Baghaei said, "For now, we prefer to remain focused on what we have proposed (in our response to Trump's letter)."
He rejected claims by some countries that Iran sought to make nuclear bombs, noting that those claims were made based on speculations rooted in Israel. He stressed that no evidence had been provided proving that Iran's nuclear program was moving in any "unpeaceful" direction, and the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that.
On the U.S.-Israeli threats of attacking Iran's nuclear facilities, Baghaei said, "We will respond to any aggression against our country's territory with full force."
Trump said in early March that he had sent a letter to Iranian leaders via the United Arab Emirates, proposing direct negotiations on Tehran's nuclear activities.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian later confirmed that in response to the letter, Tehran rejected the proposed face-to-face talks but was open to possible indirect talks.
Trump, in an interview with NBC News late last month, threatened to launch "unprecedented military strikes" on Iran if it refused to negotiate over its nuclear program.
Iran signed a nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, with six major countries -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States -- in July 2015, accepting restrictions on its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.
However, the United States withdrew from the deal in May 2018 and reinstated sanctions, prompting Iran to scale back some of its nuclear commitments. Efforts to revive the nuclear deal have not achieved substantial progress.
