White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified on Monday that US President Joe Biden currently has no plans to meet with Iran's newly elected president, Ebrahim Raisi.
"We don't currently have any diplomatic relations with Iran or any plans to meet at the leader level," Psaki told reporters, according to Reuters. "Our view is that the decision maker here is the Supreme Leader."
Psaki said negotiators had concluded a sixth round of talks about how Iran and the United States could both return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear pact.
The White House, she added, would be "looking forward to seeing where that goes" but that they could not predict when or if a deal would be reached.
Raisi, a hardline Iranian cleric and Chief Justice of Iran, was elected on Friday in a landslide, receiving 62% of the vote.
On Monday, Raisi ruled out meeting with Biden, responding to queries regarding such a meeting with a one-word response: “No”.
Former Iranian Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati, who ran against Raisi, said before the election he’d be willing to meet Biden, but stressed that “America needs to send better and stronger signals” to the Islamic Republic.