Iran and the United States begin in Oman Third Meeting for Nuclear Deal
Leading Iranian and US negotiators will meet again on Saturday to develop a new deal that restricts Tehran’s advanced nuclear program, while US President Donald Trump has signaled confidence in the conclusion of a new pact that would block the Iran bomb path.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arakchi will negotiate indirectly with Trump’s envoy to the Middle East Steve Whitkof in Muscat through Omani intermediaries, a week after the second round in Rome, which both sides have defined as constructive.
Negotiations will start at an expert level, with a framework for a potential nuclear transaction, before an indirect meeting between leading negotiators.
In an interview with Time magazine, published on Friday, Trump said, « I think we will make a deal with Iran, » but repeated the threat of hostilities against Iran if diplomacy failed.
Iran strengthens underground nuclear objects while negotiating with the United States
Although both Tehran and Washington have said they have been determined to continue diplomacy, they remain far from each other in dispute that has been going on for more than two decades.
Trump, who has restored his « maximum pressure » campaign on Tehran since February, abandoned the 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world forces in 2018 during his first term and again imposed crippling sanctions against Iran.
Since 2019, Iran has violated the nuclear restrictions of the pact, including « drastically » accelerating uranium enrichment to 60% purity, close to the level of approximately 90%, which is a weapons class, according to the Nuclear Supervisory Authority of the United Nations.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that Iran will have to completely stop the enrichment of Uranus under the agreement and bring the entire enriched uranium needed to power its only functioning nuclear power plant Busher.
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Tehran is ready to negotiate some restrictions on his nuclear work in exchange for the cancellation of sanctions, according to Iranian officials, but the termination of his program for enrichment or the transfer of his reserves from enriched uranium are among the « red lines of Iran that cannot be compromised » in the negotiations.
In addition, several European diplomats have said that European countries have proposed to US negotiators that a comprehensive agreement must include restrictions that do not allow Iran to acquire or finalize its capacity to place a nuclear battle head on a ballistic missile.
Tehran insists that his defense capabilities, such as the missile program, are not discussed. An Iranian employee familiar with the negotiations said on Friday that Tehran saw his missile program as a greater obstacle in negotiations.
