Iran Says U.S. Claims of Ongoing Talks and Qatar Meetings Are Lies

Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Rezaei said Nov. 11 that the United States had not given Iran a clear answer to conditions Tehran put forward, while calling U.S. claims that negotiations were continuing and talks were being held in Qatar lies.

Iran had asked the United States for a clear and explicit answer to the conditions it presented, Rezaei said. He described the U.S. response as deceptive, saying it did not amount to the clear reply Iran had requested.

The statement rejects two separate elements of the U.S. position as characterized by the Iranian official: that negotiations with Iran are continuing and that talks are being held in Qatar. He said both claims were lies, putting the status of diplomatic contact at the center of the dispute.

Iran's account is that it is still waiting for a clear response on its conditions, while denying that either continuing negotiations or a Qatar-based meeting is taking place. That leaves the two accounts of diplomacy at odds.