US-Iran direct talks possibly planned in Oslo next week: report

HOUSTON -- White House envoy Steve Witkoff is planning to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oslo next week to restart nuclear talks, according to a report issued by US online media outlet Axios on Thursday.

Neither country has publicly confirmed the meeting and the final date of the talks has not been set, said the report. "We have no travel announcements at this time," a White House official told Axios.

If it happens, it would mark the first direct talks since Israel and the United States launched strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities in June.

In an interview with CBS News in Tehran, which was published on Monday, Araghchi said the country still needs more time to decide about the resumption of negotiations with the United States.

The Pentagon said Wednesday that US strikes last month on three key Iranian nuclear facilities had set back Tehran's nuclear program "by one to two years."

Also, the same day, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian issued an order enacting a law suspending the country's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) until Iran's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the safety of its nuclear facilities and scientists are fully guaranteed.

In response, US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Wednesday that Iran's suspension of cooperation with the IAEA is "unacceptable."

However, Araghchi on Thursday wrote on X that Iran remains committed to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and its Safeguards Agreement.

"In accordance with the new legislation by Majlis (parliament), sparked by the unlawful attacks against our nuclear facilities by Israel and the US, our cooperation with the IAEA will be channeled through Iran's Supreme National Security Council for obvious safety and security reasons," he wrote.

On June 22, US forces bombed the three Iranian nuclear facilities of Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan.

A ceasefire between Iran and Israel was reached on June 24, after Israel launched airstrikes targeting Iranian military and nuclear facilities on June 13. Iran then retaliated with waves of missile and drone strikes against Israel.

The sixth round of the US-Iran nuclear talks led by Witkoff and Araghchi, which had been scheduled in Oman on June 15, was canceled following Israel's strikes.