Iran and the US on Saturday held in-depth negotiations in Muscat over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, ending the discussions with a promise for more talks and perhaps another high-level meeting next weekend.
Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi told state television after the talks, which ran for several hours, that the parties exchanged written points throughout the day in discussions that he described as “very serious and work-focused.”
“This time, the negotiations were much more serious than in the past, and we gradually entered into deeper and more detailed discussions,” he said. “We have moved somewhat away from broader, general discussions — though it is not the case that all disagreements have been resolved. Differences still exist both on major issues and on the details.”
Photo: AFP
A senior US administration official said that the talks were “positive and productive.”
“This latest round of direct and indirect discussions lasted over four hours,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal. We agreed to meet again soon, in Europe, and we thank our Omani partners for facilitating these talks.”
Omani Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr al-Busaidi, who has mediated the two previous rounds of talks in Muscat and Rome, offered a positive note at the end of Saturday’s negotiations.
Iran and the US “identified a shared aspiration to reach agreement based on mutual respect and enduring commitments,” al-Busaidi wrote on X. “Core principles, objectives and technical concerns were all addressed. Talks will continue next week with a further high level meeting provisionally scheduled for May 3.”
The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the US has imposed on the country closing in on a half-century of enmity.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal is not reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.
Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal did limit Tehran’s program. However, Trump unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018, setting in motion years of attacks and tensions.
Trump, traveling to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, said that he hoped negotiations would lead to a new nuclear deal. However, he still held out the possibility of a military strike if they did not.
Iran has insisted that keeping its enrichment is key, but Witkoff has muddied the issue by first suggesting in a television interview that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67 percent, then later saying that all enrichment must stop. The demand that all enrichment stop also has been repeated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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