ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - A senior advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday claimed that the United States has acknowledged Iran does not have nuclear weapons, adding that the two sides are determined to continue negotiations.

“Accepting assessments by the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and its own intelligence agencies, the US has acknowledged Iran does not possess nukes,” wrote Ali Shamkhani in an X post on Wednesday. 

The US and Iran have held three rounds on indirect negotiations over the nuclear issue since April. A fourth round of talks is reportedly set to be held over the weekend. Tehran has repeatedly stressed that a new nuclear deal must lead to the removal of sanctions and economic pressure on the Islamic republic.

“Sanction removal and recognition of Iran’s right to industrial enrichment can guarantee a deal,” said Shamkhani.

The US and Western powers seek robust assurances that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons, while Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and that it has no plans to develop nuclear weapons.

During his first term in 2018, US President Donald Trump walked away from a landmark nuclear deal with Iran, which was introduced three years earlier in 2015 by his predecessor Barack Obama. Known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal provided sanctions relief to Iran in exchange for the placement of curbs on Iran’s nuclear program.

According to the IAEA, Iran currently holds over 8,000 kilograms of enriched uranium, of which 274.8 kilograms is at 60 percent purity—far surpassing the JCPOA's limits.