Iran undecided on participation in 6th round of talks with US: foreign ministry

TEHRAN -- Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Saturday that the country has not yet decided whether to take part in the sixth round of indirect talks with the United States scheduled to be held in Oman on Sunday.

In an interview with state-run IRIB TV, Baghaei stressed that Iran finds it inconceivable that recent Israeli airstrikes on its territory were conducted without coordination with, or at least the tacit approval of, the United States.

It was not acceptable for "the other side" to claim readiness for dialogue on one hand, while on the other, allowing Israel to perpetrate an act of "aggression" against Iran's territorial integrity, Baghaei said.

He added that Israel had always sought to draw Western states into a conflict in the West Asia region. This time, Israel once again had succeeded in derailing a diplomatic process, which proved that US policymakers were highly under Israel's influence, the spokesperson said.

Starting since April, Iran and the United States have held five rounds of Omani-mediated indirect talks on Tehran's nuclear program and the removal of US sanctions. The sixth round was scheduled to be held on Sunday in the Omani capital Muscat.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said earlier this week that an agreement with the United States to ensure the "continued peaceful nature" of Tehran's nuclear program was "within reach."

Israel early Friday launched airstrikes on Iran's capital Tehran and other cities across the country with the aim of crippling Iran's nuclear infrastructure, ballistic missile production, and military capabilities.

Iran on Friday night responded to the attacks by launching a salvo of ballistic missiles against military targets in Israel.