ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - A top Iranian official warned Tuesday that the country’s military capabilities are “red lines” and they will not be discussed in talks between Tehran and Washington over the former's nuclear programs.

"National security and defense and military power are among the red lines of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which cannot be discussed or negotiated under any circumstances,” Iranian broadcaster IRIB quoted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini as saying.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff last Saturday in Muscat, the first round of bilateral talks on Tehran’s burgeoning nuclear program since the US pulled out from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

The two sides will meet again on Saturday in the Omani capital city.

Iran's Western adversaries, Israel, and some regional Persian Gulf states have viewed Tehran's nuclear proliferation efforts and its missile capabilities as major threats to regional and global peace, a concern that Tehran dismisses.

The United States seeks robust assurances that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons. Tehran insists that such an ambition has never been on its agenda and is open to verification processes.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday, making no mention of the Oman talks, underlined the necessity of a continuous boosting of Iran's military power and preparedness as he met with the country's highest-ranking commanders on Sunday.

Khamenei told the generals that Iran's armed forces were in need of bolstering "both hard and soft readiness" to fulfill their national responsibilities, according to a report published by his official website.

Iran supports the "axis of resistance,” a collection of groups across the Middle East that oppose Israel, including militia groups in Iraq, Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.