Sixth round of Iran-US nuclear talks likely on Sunday amid uranium enrichment standoff

The sixth Iran-US nuclear talks is likely planned for Sunday, Tehran announced as the two sides seem to be stuck in a standoff over uranium enrichment almost two months into the high-stakes talks.

It followed as European powers and the United States submitted a censure motion to the UN nuclear watchdog as part of an attempt to increase pressure on Iran despite Tehran's threats.

Iran said it will submit a counter-proposal to the new Washington draft, which it had condemned for not providing sanctions relief in exchange for limiting its nuclear program.

"The next round of Iran-US indirect talks is being planned for next Sunday in Muscat," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement on Tuesday.

There was no comment immediately available from mediator Oman, where some of the earlier rounds were hosted, while Washington indicated the talks could take place as early as Thursday.

The two arch-enemies have held five rounds of talks since April, the highest-level contact since President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of a 2015 nuclear deal during his first term.

Trump said the next session was expected on Thursday, although a source close to preparations indicated it would likely be on Friday or Saturday.

Iran's chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, will be present at the annual Oslo Forum in Norway on Thursday, his office added.

On May 31, following the fifth round of negotiations, Iran announced that it had received "elements" of a US proposal for a deal, which Araghchi has denounced for its "ambiguities".

Tehran has said that the proposal did not include issues previously raised in the talks such as the removal of sanctions -- a fundamental demand of Tehran, which has been under their weight for years.

On Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Baqaei announced that Iran would make a "reasonable, logical and balanced" counter-proposal.

‘National interests’

Trump announced that the next round of negotiations could determine whether a nuclear deal can be done to prevent military action.

In one of the main sticking points, Tehran has asserted its right to enrich uranium as "non-negotiable", while Washington dubbed any Iranian enrichment as "a red line".

At present, Iran enriches uranium to 60 percent, well over the 3.67-percent threshold established in the 2015 accord and short but close to the 90 percent required for a nuclear warhead.

The United States and other Western nations, along with Israel, have long accused Iran of attempting to gain atomic weapons, while Tehran has maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

In an interview on Tuesday, Iranian deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi declared there was no "deadlock" in the negotiations, and that the subsequent round would be the first where the parties are going to negotiate "any written material".

"Any negotiations with an international dimension come with their own sensitivities and require a great deal of patience for them to reach a result," he told the official IRNA news agency.

"What matters to us is that we can safeguard the national interests of the country through these talks, and that is how we proceed."

A group of Iranian legislators in a statement released on Tuesday said that the United States had made the negotiations a "strategic trap" in collaboration with Israel.

On Monday, the United Nations nuclear monitor opened a Board of Governors meeting in Vienna that will run until Friday to debate Iran's atomic endeavors and other matters.

In a previous statement on Tuesday, Araghchi had again criticised the proposed resolution.

"Any ill-considered and destructive decision in the Board of Governors against Iran will be met with an appropriate response," Araghchi said during a phone call with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya.