Washington’s secretive talks with Tehran are in full swing as the President’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, made a top-secret visit to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee to prepare the ground for upcoming nuclear negotiations with the .
According to , the US administration is trying to reach a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Iran that would end the war and pave the way for in-depth nuclear talks, wanting to have the country’s top technical experts on hand.
Despite the seriousness of the moment, Iran and Iran still disagree on several details of the draft. Sources from the region and US officials involved in the mediation describe the negotiations as “the final stretch”. However, they make it clear that it is not yet certain whether a final agreement will be reached. As an American official pointed out, the meeting in Tennessee does not discount the deal, but it is an irrefutable witness that the talks have passed into an extremely critical phase.
The background to the visit was revealed when Axios tracked down Witkoff’s unannounced trip to east Tennessee, which was later confirmed by official sources who said he and Kushner visited Energy Department facilities.
Oak Ridge and the Y-12 National Security Complex are home to some of the world’s leading scientists on uranium processing and centrifuge technology, a site with a heavy history as nuclear materials from Kazakhstan and Libya have passed through it in the past.
Although the White House and the National Nuclear Security Administration declined to comment, it was learned that a group of about 100 experts was recently formed, with which the two envoys met to plan the possible implementation of a future agreement.
The thorns of the deal, the bargain for the billions
The momentum of the developments shows that last week, Witkoff and Kushner had agreed with their Iranian counterparts on the basic terms of a 60-day Memorandum that provides for the extension of the ceasefire, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the permission for Iran to sell oil and the start of talks on the country’s stockpile of enriched uranium.
However, Trump requested two amendments to the text, with the Iranians responding that they would also request their own amendments. Although the differences are considered relatively small, they still exist. For example, Trump has called for the final deal to set a 60-day deadline for Iran to deplete its enriched uranium, while Tehran is pushing for 90 days.
At the same time, a thorn is when and how much of Iran’s bound billions will be released. Washington is making it clear that the flow of money will only begin after a final deal is signed and concrete steps are taken, while the Iranians are demanding an immediate release of some of the funds, with an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader telling CNN that talks have stalled at this point and that “the ball is in Trump’s court.”
The cream of the crop of nuclear scientists
If the negotiations advance to the second phase, the Oak Ridge panel of experts will be asked to develop a detailed plan for managing Iran’s nuclear material, further limiting its weapons program and verifying compliance.
It is worth noting that some of these scientists had participated a few weeks ago in the operation to recover enriched uranium from Venezuela – material that arrived last month in South Carolina for processing – while they had also accompanied Kushner and Witkoff to Oman for the preliminary talks before the outbreak of war. It is the cream of the crop of US nuclear scientists who possess the expertise for the complex technical procedures such an agreement requires.
The big question now is the next day. While US officials say the White House is receiving positive messages from Iranian negotiators, they also say there are deep internal divisions in Tehran over how to handle the situation.
