Iran: The Iranian foreign ministry has refuted a claim made by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan that the two countries had held direct conversations in recent months.  "Iran has held no direct contacts with the US since the commencement of the negotiations in Vienna on the renewal of the 2015 nuclear deal," Saeed Khatibzadeh, the ministry's spokesman, was cited as saying.

The US has "communicated both through the Europeans and directly to Iran," Sullivan told reporters in Washington on Friday. "Since the start of the talks in Vienna, Iran has received certain communications on the issues of negotiations in written and unwritten formats through EU mediators, to which answers have been given on the spot," Khatibzadeh stated.

Former US President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in May 2018, and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran in an attempt to reach a new agreement.

Representatives from China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Iran have held seven rounds of negotiations in the Austrian capital since early April, with the United States indirectly involved, with the goal of bringing the US back to the JCPOA and laying the groundwork for its full implementation.

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