Mohammad Javad Zarif

The United States will not lift sanctions on Iran in order to negotiate, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted late on Jan. 25, seemingly in response to a Der Spiegel interview with Iran's foreign minister.

"Iranian Foreign Minister says Iran wants to negotiate with The United States, but wants sanctions removed. No Thanks!" Trump tweeted in English on Jan. 25 and later in Farsi. 

World leaders traveled on Jan. 12 to Oman to meet the country's new sultan, named just a day earlier after the death of the nation's longtime ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince Charles were among those who arrived in Muscat to meet Oman's new ruler, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said.

Iran said on Jan. 11 it had mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian plane killing all 176 aboard and voiced deep regret, after initially denying it brought down the aircraft in the tense aftermath of Iranian missile strikes on U.S. targets in Iraq.

The United States has declined to issue a visa to the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was scheduled to attend a UN Security Council meeting in New York on Thursday. This was reported by Reuters, citing a US official who requested anonymity.

China voiced opposition to the abuse of military force by the U.S. in Iraq, days after a U.S. drone strike killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad and a senior Iraqi figure.

The statement by Foreign Minister Wang Yi came after he spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to discuss the tension in the Middle East, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The United States killed Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force and spearhead of Iran's spreading military influence in the Middle East, in an airstrike at Baghdad airport, the Pentagon and Iran said.

Top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an adviser to Soleimani, was also killed in the attack, a militia spokesman said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu discussed the Syrian constitutional committee with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, according to diplomatic sources on Sept. 8.

Acting Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Cornel Feruta arrived in Tehran on Sunday for high-level meetings with Iranian officials, AFP reports citing Iranian news agency ISNA.

Iran is not interested in negotiating with Washington, but if there is mediation, it should focus on the US returning to the 2015 nuclear deal, which they left last year. This was stated by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, quoted by BTA.

The United States on July 31 imposed sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, targeting the country's top spokesman and potentially hurting chances of diplomatic talks amid rising tensions between the two countries.