Iran and the United States began on Saturday, 26, in -depth negotiations in Oman about the rapid advance of Tehran’s nuclear program. Conversations will probably focus on uranium enrichment by the Islamic Republic.
According to Iranian state television and a US source, negotiations are taking place in Mascate, the capital of the sultanate, surrounded by mountain ranges, in the far eastern of the Arabian peninsula.
However, neither Iran’s Foreign Minister ABBAS ARAGHCHI, nor the US envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, offered any specific or immediate details about the negotiations they will conduct.
Araye arrived on Friday, 25, Oman and met with Oman’s Foreign Minister, Badr al-Busaidi, who measured the previous two rounds of negotiations in Mascate and Rome.
Then Aragchi visited the International Mascate Book Fair, surrounded by television cameras and photojournalists.
A video late Saturday morning showed Araye going to the negotiations. Witkoff was in Moscow on Friday, gathered with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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He arrived on Saturday Oman, where negotiations should develop, a source familiar with Witkoff’s trips to the Associated Press news agency told, speaking on anonymity.
Nuclear negotiations occur after decades of tensions
Negotiations seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the survey of some of the heavy economic sanctions that the US imposed on the Islamic Republic, ending half a century of enmity.
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US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to trigger air attacks against the Iran program if an agreement is not reached.
Iranian authorities are increasingly warning that they could build a nuclear weapon with their uranium stock already enriched to levels close to those used by these artifacts.
Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with the world powers limited the Tehran program. However, Trump withdrew unilaterally from the agreement in 2018, starting years of attacks and tensions.
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The Middle East generally remains on the edge with the devastating war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Trump, traveling to Rome to Pope Francis’ funeral, said again that he expected the negotiations to take a new nuclear agreement. However, he still maintained the possibility of a military attack if this does not occur.
“The situation of Iran is going very well,” Trump said at Air Force One. “We had a lot of conversations with them and I think we will reach an agreement. I prefer an agreement to another alternative. That would be good for humanity.”
He added, “There are some people who want to make a different kind of agreement – a much more unpleasant agreement – and I don’t want it to happen to Iran if we can avoid.”
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Conversations aimed at specialists
Although Araghi and Witkoff should again talk, experts on both sides will also begin to negotiate the details of a possible agreement.
On the Iranian side, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-e Ravanchi will lead Tehran’s team of experts, said Mohammad Golzari, an authority of the Iranian government. Takht-e Ravanchi participated in nuclear negotiations of 2015.
The US technical team will be led by Michael Anton, director of the Policy Planning Team of the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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Anton does not have the same experience in nuclear policy as those who led the United States efforts in 2015 negotiations.
Iran has insisted that maintaining its enrichment is critical. But Witkoff embarrassed the issue by suggesting, in an interview for television, that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67% and later say that all enrichment must be interrupted.
This requirement to stop all enrichment was also repeated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
However, Iranians remain hopeful that negotiations can be successful. An indication is that the Rial, the Iranian currency, recovered from historical casualties during which more than 1 million rials were required to buy $ 1.
“No problem negotiating, decreasing or increasing the nuclear program and reaching an agreement,” said Farzin Keivan, a resident of Tehran. “Of course we should not give you everything. After all, we suffer a lot for this program.”
