TEHRAN — Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi has said there is no chance right now for mediation between Tehran and Washington amid the recent escalation of tension in the region, according to Iran Front Page.

The remarks came hours after Iranian missiles hit the U.S. Ain al-Assad base in western Iraq.

The missile attack was a response to U.S. assassination of Qassem Soleimani, a revered Iranian general, in Iraq’s Baghdad on Friday.

Tensions started to build up between the U.S. and Iran after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the 2015 deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May 2018, and imposed sanctions against Tehran in a bid to put maximum pressure on the Islamic Republic. 

The Trump administration has also made empty calls for talks, but the Islamic Republic maintains that as long as the sanctions are in place and the U.S. refuses to return to the JCPOA, negotiations will be meaningless.

The assassination of Soleimani, however, has rendered the idea of talks between the two countries all but impossible.

MH/PA