Muscat, Oman:
Iran’s Foreign Minister said on Saturday that the next round of nuclear dialogue with the United States will be on Saturday, 19 April. Abbas Araghchi commented on the Iranian state television, which also reported that he described the talks as creative.
Araghchi said that during talks in Muscat, Oman, four round messages were exchanged indirectly between Iran and the US.
Iranian State TV said Argchi and US Midifty Envoy Steve Witchoff spoke together at the end of the meeting, Irani State TV said, marking the direct interaction between the two countries locked in decades tensions.
US officials did not immediately accept the Iranian reports, which Tehran accelerated on social media before a possible Trump post. But announcing that the two sides talked face to face – even though briefly – suggests that the conversation became good.
The talks started from local at around 3:30 pm. Both sides spoke at one place on the outskirts of Oman for more than two hours, ending the talks at 5:50 pm local time. The convoy is believed to be carrying Vitcoff, returning to Muscat, the capital of Oman, before he disappears in traffic around a neighborhood which is home to the US Embassy.
The stakes of the talks may not be much for two countries for the closure of half a century enmity. Trump has repeatedly threatened to highlight the air strikes that targeted Iran’s nuclear program if there is no deal. Iranian officials rapidly warned that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of rich uranium near arms-grade levels.
Talks held in Oman on Saturday afternoon
AP journalists noticed that a convoy is believed to have left the Omani Foreign Ministry on Saturday afternoon and then accelerated the outskirts of Muscat. The convoy went to a campus and a few minutes later, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Exmail Bagei wrote on the social platform X that “indirect talks” started.
“These dialogues will be held at a place employed by the Omani host, in which Iran’s Islamic Republic and the United States are sitting in the halls and sides, telling each other about their attitude and positions through Omani Foreign Minister.”
About an hour later, Bagi Iranian state appeared on television and admitted that the talks were going on at that time.
“The purpose of the Islamic Republic of Iran is very clear – we have only one goal, and it is to protect Iran’s national interests,” he said. “We are giving a real and honest opportunity to diplomacy, so that through dialogue, we can proceed on the nuclear issue on one side, and more important for us, to lift the restrictions.”
Bagei said: “Look, this is just a beginning. So, at this stage, both sides will present their fundamental positions through Omani mediator. Therefore, we do not expect the conversation of this round to be longer.”
Araghchi had earlier spoken to Iranian journalists.
“If there is enough desire on both sides, we will decide on a timetable. But it is still very early to talk about it,” Argchi said in an audio clip published by IRNA. “It is now clear that the dialogue is indirect, and in our view is only on the nuclear issue, and will be held with the will power required to reach an agreement that is at the same rung and leads to securing the national interests of the Iranian people.”
Both Trump and Vitcoff described the talks as “direct”.
“I think our situation begins with the disintegration of your program. It is our situation today,” Vicchoff told the Wall Street Journal before his journey. “This does not mean, by the way, on margin we are not going to find other ways to find an agreement between the two countries.”
He said: “Where there will be our red line, your nuclear capacity cannot be armed,”
Relief and enrichment from restrictions are top issues
While the US side may offer restrictions for Iran’s dishonest economy, it is not clear how much Iran will be ready to accept. Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran could maintain a small reserves of uranium rich in only 3.67%. Today, Tehran’s stockpile can allow it to manufacture several nuclear weapons if it chooses and some materials are rich in up to 60%, a small, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. In 2018, Iran would probably ask to enrich uranium up to at least 20%after Trump unilaterally withdraws the US.
One thing will not do that it completely leaves your program. It makes a proposal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a so -called Libya solution – “You go in, blow up features, destroy all equipment, destroy all equipment, under American supervision, under American execution” – unnatural.
Iranians, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have said what happened to Libya’s dictator Moammar Gadfi, who was killed by rebels by rebels in the 2011 Arab Spring Rebellion of the country with their guns, what can happen when you rely on the United States.
(This story is not edited by NDTV employees and auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)