TEHRAN - Iran's government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said here Wednesday that the United States had rejected Iran's recent proposal for direct talks during the 80th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

On the sidelines of a cabinet meeting, Mohajerani said the Iranian team attending the UNGA session proposed a meeting with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, to be attended by the foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany, collectively known as the E3, along with the representative of the International Atomic Energy Agency. However, Witkoff did not attend any joint meeting.

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Noting that Iran has kept exchanging messages with the US directly and indirectly and exhausted all efforts to resolve Iran's nuclear issue and prevent the reinstatement of UN sanctions, Mohajerani accused the US of making excessive demands and failing to honor promises.

Iran even proposed a 45-day delay in triggering the snapback mechanism in the very last moments, which was rejected by the other sides under Israeli pressure, she said, adding that the other sides' commitment to negotiation was "mere lies."

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In August, the E3 formally invoked the "snapback" mechanism, which allowed for the re-imposition of UN sanctions within 30 days if Iran was deemed in breach of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

On Sept 19, the UN Security Council (UNSC) failed to adopt a resolution that would have extended sanctions relief for Iran under the JCPOA. A subsequent resolution, which sought to grant a six-month extension to both the JCPOA and UN Resolution 2231, also failed to pass in the UNSC on Friday. The sanctions were re-imposed on Saturday evening.