Iran is willing to pursue direct discussions with the US if it believes it can reach a decent agreement with assurances, according to its foreign minister, who added that no decision has been taken.

Indirect discussions between Iran and the US to resurrect the 2015 nuclear agreement begun over two months ago.

Western officials have expressed hope for a breakthrough in the coming weeks, but severe divides persist. Any timeframe imposed by Western nations has been rejected by Iran.

Iran refuses to directly meet U.S. officials, meaning other parties – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – must shuttle between the two sides.

“Reports saying that Iran and the U.S. are directly negotiating with one another are untrue,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told a news conference in Tehran. “However, if we get to a stage where reaching a good deal with strong guarantees necessitates direct talks with the U.S., we will consider it.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last year banned Iranian officials from holding talks with Washington.

A Western diplomatic source said Iran’s negotiating team had brought up the subject of direct talks during a recent return to Tehran for consultations.

The source said it was unclear whether Khamenei had given his green light yet, but negotiators felt direct contact would ease negotiations at this stage.

“We’ve heard nothing to that effect. We’d welcome it,” the United States’ Iran envoy Robert Malley told Reuters.

Iran earlier on Monday ruled out any U.S. preconditions for reviving a 2015 nuclear deal, including the release of American prisoners held by the Islamic Republic.

Malley said on Sunday the U.S. was unlikely to strike an agreement with Iran unless Tehran released four U.S. citizens Washington says it is holding hostage.

“Iran has never accepted any preconditions … The U.S. official’s comments on the release of U.S. prisoners in Iran is for domestic use,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Monday.

Iran has been in talks with world powers since April to reinstate the deal. In 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump ditched the agreement and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran, prompting Iran to gradually breach limits of the deal on its nuclear programme.

But after eight rounds of talks, the thorniest points remain the speed and scope of lifting sanctions on Tehran, including Iran’s demand for a U.S. guarantee of no further punitive steps, and how and when to restore curbs on Iran’s atomic work.