Iran has sent a response to a letter from US President Donald Trump that called for nuclear talks and warned of possible military action if it refuses, its foreign minister said Thursday.
“This official response includes a letter in which our position regarding the current situation and Mr Trump’s letter has been fully explained to the other party,” Abbas Araghchi told the official IRNA news agency.
He added that the letter was delivered to Oman, which has served as an intermediary in the past in the absence of US-Iranian diplomatic relations.
He did not disclose the nature of the response nor say when it had been sent.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asked by reporters on his plane over the Caribbean whether the United States has received the letter, said: “I’m not going to comment on that yet”.
He said that the United States had expected there to be a response and “obviously at that point, the president will decide what steps if he any he wants to take next”.
Trump, who in 2018 pulled the United States out of an agreement to relieve sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear programme, now says he is open to diplomatic talks.
The US president revealed at the start of March that he had sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
