Secretary of State confirmed on Wednesday that Iran had requested a location change for talks with its U.S. counterparts, following several reports on the matter.

“We thought we had an established forum agreed to in Turkey—put together by a number of partners who wanted to attend and take part,” Rubio said while fielding reporters’ questions on Wednesday. 

“Yesterday, I saw conflicting reports from the Iranian side saying they hadn’t agreed to that. So that’s still being worked through. At the end of the day, the United States is prepared to engage—and has always been prepared to engage—with Iran.”

A source familiar with the discussions told on Tuesday that Iran had asked to hold nuclear talks with the U.S. in Oman on Friday. Additionally, that Iranian officials were pushing to limit the talks to a bilateral U.S.-Iran format, excluding other Arab and regional countries—a move that could complicate U.S. diplomatic efforts in the region.

Rubio wouldn’t specify which topics had been agreed upon. Instead, he laid out issues that, in his view, needed to be discussed for the meeting to “actually lead to something meaningful.” The topics on Rubio’s list include the range of Iran’s ballistic missiles, its sponsorship of terrorist organizations, its nuclear program, and the treatment of its people.

The secretary also addressed the anti-regime protests that have raged in Iran since late December. When the demonstrations began, President said the U.S. would act if protesters were met with violence. Rubio credited Trump’s tough talk with the cancellation of protesters’ executions—a claim the regime has denied.

“The Iranian people and the are very different,” Rubio said. “Iran’s clerical leadership does not reflect the people of Iran. I don’t know of any other country where the gap between those who lead and those who live there is larger.”

Rubio said the Islamic regime can’t fix the economic problems plaguing its people because Iranian leaders are using the country’s money and resources to and proxy groups around the world.

On Tuesday, the U.S. military shot down an Iranian drone after it “aggressively approached a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier with unclear intent,” a U.S. Central Command spokesman told .

Iran later claimed the drone was conducting surveillance as part of a “routine and lawful mission over international waters.”

Digital’s Michael Dorgan, Greg Norman-Diamond and Liz Friden, and ‘ Aishah Hasnie contributed to this report.