IRANIAN Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the possibility of new negotiations with the United States on his country’s nuclear programme has been “complicated” by its attack on three of the sites.

On Thursday, he conceded for the first time that the US attack had caused “serious damage.”

The US was one of the parties to the 2015 nuclear deal under which Iran agreed to limits on its uranium enrichment programme in exchange for sanctions relief and other benefits.

The agreement unravelled after US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the US out during his first term. However, Mr Trump has now expressed willingness to open new talks with Iran and said the two sides will meet next week.

In an interview on Iranian state television broadcast on Thursday night, Mr Araghchi left open the possibility that his country would again enter discussions on its nuclear programme, but he suggested that it would not happen anytime soon.

“No agreement has been made for resuming the negotiations,” he said. “No time has been set, no promise has been made and we haven’t even talked about restarting the talks.”

The US decision to intervene militarily “made it more complicated and more difficult” to hold talks, Mr Araghchi added.

Israel began air strikes on Iran on June 13, targeting its residential and military nuclear sites and killing high-ranking military officials and atomic scientists.

This unproked act of aggression followed claims in Iranian media that an Israeli plan to launch a “false flag” attack on the United States and pin the blame on Tehran had been foiled.

The plan, revealed by the Tehran Times, aimed to drag Washington into a conflict with Iran through a destructive attack on US soil.

According to the publication, Iranian intelligence, with the help of a “friendly country,” uncovered the plot and discreetly alerted US officials, preventing its execution.