“What the Americans want is the same Israeli plan," the source told Press TV on Thursday. “Only instead of a military attack, [the Americans] politically want Iran to give up its nuclear independence of its own accord,” the source added.

“In return for Iran’s flexibility and cooperation”, the source said, the Americans “have increased their demands without presenting a specific plan or promise for lifting sanctions”.

“This is exactly the assessment which existed from the beginning — that the negotiations are a cognitive trap set by the Trump administration, with a division of work between the US and the Zionist regime,” the source further said.

Iran and the US have already held four rounds of indirect negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, mediated by Oman, amid repeated shifts in Washington’s stance, which has prompted Iranian officials to criticize the “contradictory” statements made by US officials.