Iran said on April 9 a new nuclear deal could be agreed upon upon upon upon with the United States provided Tehran's longtime adversary shows sufficient goodwill in upcoming talks, as Israel warned of military action if talks drag on (AFP).…
• Irannnn state TV said after the delegationtiontiontion arrived in Muscat on Saturday morningggg, Araghchi met with Omani officials....
• On Monday, Trump made an unexpected announcement that talks would take place. MUSCAT: Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, envoys from Iran and the United States have begun negotiations in Oman regarding Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program. Although there won't be a final agreement right away, the stakes of these negotiations could not be higher for these two nations, which have been at odds for close to 50 years. If a deal is not reached, Trump has repeatedly threatened to launch airstrikes against Iran's nuclear program. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. Flight-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed a private jet from Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg,ssia, arrived in Oman on Saturday morning. ve Witkoff, the US envoy to the Middle East, had just met Russian President Vladimir Putin there on Friday. Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry released footage of Tehran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, meeting with Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi. an’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that Araghchi provided Iran’s “stance and key points for the talks to be conveyed to the US side.” According to the IRNA report, the meeting would take place later on Saturday. In Oman, talks began on Saturday afternoon. AP journalists saw a convoy believed to be carrying Witkoff leave the Omani Foreign Ministry on Saturday afternoon and then speed off into the outskirts of Muscat. anian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei wrote on the social platform X a few minutes after the convoy entered a compound that the "indirect talks" had begun. Baghaei wrote, "These talks will be held at a location planned by the Omani host, with representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States seated in the halls and sides, conveying their positions and points of view to each other through the Omani Foreign Minister." On Iranian state television about an hour later, Baghaei acknowledged that the talks had been ongoing all along. “The objective of the Islamic Republic of Iran is very clear — we have only one goal, and that is to safeguard Iran’s national interests,” he said. e are giving a genuine and honest opportunity to diplomacy o that through dialogue, we can move forward on the nuclear issue on one hand, and more importantly for us, the lifting of sanctions.” Baghaei added, “Look, this is just a beginning. Therefore, it is only natural that both sides will present their fundamental positions through the Omani mediator at this point. Therefore, we do not expect this round of negotiations to be lengthy. The beginning of the talks was not immediately acknowledged by the US government. Araghchi earlier spoke to Iranian journalists. “If there is sufficient will on both sides, we will decide on a timetable. But it is still too early to talk about that,” Araghchi said, in an audio clip published by IRNA. "What is now clear is that the negotiations will be conducted with the necessary will to reach an agreement that is on an equal footing and leads to securing the national interests of the Iranian people." "What is clear now is that the negotiations are indirect, and in our view only on the nuclear issue." Trump and Witkoff both have described the talks as being “direct.” “I think our position begins with the dismantlement of your program. That is our current position,” Witkoff stated to The Wall Street Journal in advance of his trip. “That doesn’t mean, by the way, that at the margin we’re not going to find other ways to find compromise between the two countries.” He added, “Where our red line will be, there can’t be weaponization of your nuclear capability. Relief from sanctions and enrichment remain major issues. While the US side can offer sanctions relief for Iran’s beleaguered economy, it remains unclear just how much Iran will be willing to concede. Iran could only keep a small amount of uranium enriched to 3.67 percent under the 2015 nuclear deal. Today, Tehran's stockpile could enable it to construct multiple nuclear weapons if it so chooses, and some of it is enriched to up to 60%, a relatively minor technical step away from weapons-grade levels. Judging from negotiations since Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the deal in 2018, Iran will likely ask to keep enriching uranium up to at least 20 percent. It will not completely abandon its program, among other things. That makes the proposal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a so-called Libyan“ solution—“you go in, blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American supervision, American” execution”—unworkable. Iranians, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have used the death of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, who was killed by rebels during the country's Arab Spring uprising in 2011, as a warning about what can happen if you trust the United States. Qaddafi was killed with his own gun.
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