Talking to Washington was “not honorable,” the supreme leader claimed. Khamenei’s objections collapsed on Saturday evening when Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, chatted with Trump’s Middle East envoy,

US envoy Steve Witkoff has said that moving forward, talks with Iran would be about verification of its nuclear program.

Talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program had appeared ready to leave the Middle East, as an Italian source and others said the next round of negotiations would take place in Rome.