Iran denies direct US-Iran talks: All passed through intermediaries
Shafaq News- Tehran
Iran's Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday that Tehran has not engaged in any direct negotiations with the United States since the start of the war, stating that all US messages regarding negotiations have been relayed through third-party intermediaries.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Esmaeil Baqaei, said in a press conference that Tehran had received communications from countries indicating Washington's interest in negotiations, but "Iran's position is fixed and clear, unlike the other party, which constantly changes its positions."
Addressing the multilateral diplomatic framework being organized in Pakistan, where foreign ministers from Pakistan, Egypt, Turkiye, and Saudi Arabia convened Sunday in Islamabad to discuss a pathway to de-escalation, Baqaei pointed out that the meetings were "a framework set up by those countries themselves" and that Iran did not participate in them.
On the US 15-point ceasefire plan transmitted to Tehran through Pakistani intermediaries, Baqaei said the demands conveyed to Iran were "excessive and unrealistic," adding that Iran knows "the framework in which it wishes to negotiate" and that its own conditions remain unmet.
No direct talks held with United States: Iran Foreign Ministryhttps://t.co/76RxQ1kiBI pic.twitter.com/WRFDaWfhqP
— IRNA News Agency ☫ (@IrnaEnglish) March 30, 2026
About the Two Proposals
The US plan, according to US officials cited anonymously by western media, calls for a 30-day ceasefire; the dismantling of Iran's nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow; a permanent Iranian commitment to never develop nuclear weapons; the handover of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); limits on the range and number of Iran's ballistic missiles; and an end to Iran's support for regional armed groups.
In exchange, Washington has offered full sanctions relief, assistance in developing a civilian nuclear energy project at the Bushehr nuclear plant, and the removal of the snapback mechanism —a provision that allows for the automatic reimposition of United Nations sanctions on Iran.
On March 25, Iran rejected the US 15-point proposal and presented its own five conditions for ending the war. Iran's five conditions, as reported by state broadcaster Press TV, are: a complete halt to attacks and assassinations by the US and Israel; the establishment of mechanisms to ensure the war does not resume; compensation for war damages; a halt to all US and Israeli attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon and pro-Iranian groups in Iraq; and international recognition of Iran's authority over the Strait of Hormuz.
