President Donald Trump on Thursday said he wanted direct talks with Iran over a new nuclear deal, after Washington and Tehran both expressed interest in going to the negotiating table.
"I think it goes faster and you understand the other side a lot better than if you go through intermediaries," Mr Trump told reporters. "I think they're concerned, I think they feel vulnerable and I don't want them to feel that way."
He said that he "knew for a fact" that Iran did not want to use intermediaries, after weeks of back and forth between Iran and the US over the possibility of a new nuclear deal.
In 2015, world powers, including the US, signed a deal with Iran putting limits on its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. Mr Trump withdrew the US from the deal during his first term and instituted a "maximum pressure" economic campaign against Iran, which he reinstated when he returned to office this year.
Early in March, Mr Trump said he had sent a letter to Iranian leadership expressing desire to reopen negotiations. Iran responded by saying that no negotiations could take place as long as the US continued its maximum-pressure campaign.
Last week, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sent a letter to the US, through Oman, saying indirect negotiations could continue.
Quoting Iranian sources, Sky News Arabia reported that Tehran and Washington have agreed to begin indirect negotiations within the next three weeks in Oman. The National has contacted the White House for comment.
Mr Trump has said he wants to negotiate with Iran rather than resort to military means, although on Sunday said that "there will be bombing" if Iran fails to reach a nuclear deal with the US. Whether he was implying a unilateral US air strike or a joint operation with Israel remained unclear.
Iran has called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to intervene over threats issued against the country's nuclear plants after Tehran vowed to acquire nuclear weapons if it is attacked
