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The third round of the talks between Iran and the United States on Tehran’s nuclear activities concluded on Saturday after several hours of negotiations, in part in writing, between senior officials and technical experts teams from both sides.
Abbas Aragici, Iranian Foreign Minister, said in an interview with Iranian government television that the talks were “very dangerous” and focused on the details of a possible agreement. He said that the differences remained between Tehran and Washington, but he was “optimistic with caution that we could advance.”
Mr. Aragchi said that the negotiations will resume next Saturday as Oman continues to mediate in the talks, which includes Steve Whitcom, President Trump’s special envoy and expert teams. However, while the American negotiators agreed to continue the talks, no timing was presented, according to a senior American official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.
“The negotiation atmosphere was very dangerous and fruitful,” he said. “We have moved away from some of the biggest issues, but this does not mean that we have resolved all our differences.”
He added: “We have differences on big and small issues, but there will be discussions in the capitals this week to reduce our differences.”
A senior US official said the next round of talks will be in Europe, with the facilitation of Oman. The official said that the talks lasted four hours, describing them as a productivity.
Another person familiar with the negotiations said that the next round is likely to happen in the next two weeks, but the American team needs some time to consider information and proposals from the Iranians. The person said that the American side wanted to move the talks to a more convenient location near the United States.
The person added that both American and Iranian teams raised a framework for negotiations and discussed a set of issues on Saturday, although nothing was agreed.
“I think we will deal with Iran. No one can do that,” Mr. Trump He predicted an interview with Time Magazine Posted on Friday. Mr. Trump abandoned a previous nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, during his first term, saying it was a flawed agreement.
The talks have the ability to reshape regional and global security by reducing the opportunity of the US -backed Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities and preventing Iran from producing a nuclear weapon. The deal can also turn the economic and political scene in Iran by eliminating US sanctions and opening the country to foreign investors.
What happened on Saturday?
Steve Whitchov, Mr. Trump’s envoy in the Middle East; Abbas Aragici, Iranian Foreign Minister; The teams of technical experts from both sides met in the Gulf Sultanate in Amman, which mediate the talks. Iranian government media reported that the talks started in the middle of the day.
This tour included “expert talks” nuts, which brought together nuclear and financial teams from both sides to divide technical details, such as monitoring Iranian nuclear facilities and what will happen to highly enriched uranium in stocksand Along with the reduction of penalties.
Mr. Trump himself set the goal of negotiations as preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. However, officials in his administration sent mixed messages about the meaning of this.
This narrow goal of preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon will not address other concerns that link Israel with the Iranian advanced missile program, and its support for the militias agents throughout the Middle East and its hostility to Israel.
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Asmaeel Baghi, said on Saturday that the issue of defensive and missile capabilities in the country “has not been raised and will not be raised in indirect negotiations with the United States.”
What is at stake?
The new nuclear agreement may delay or avoid a broader conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States. Israel and Iran were circulated Direct attacks Since the war began in Gaza on October 7, 2023.
New York Times I mentioned Last week, Israel had planned to attack Iranian nuclear sites as soon as possible next month, but the Israelis were Wave By Mr. Trump, who wanted to negotiate an agreement with Tehran instead.
In an interview, Mr. Trump said that he had not stopped the Israeli attack.
“But I didn’t make it comfortable for them, because I think we can make a deal without an attack. I hope we can,” he said. “We can attack because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.”
Iran enriched uranium to about 60 percent of purity, less than the levels needed to produce a weapon. I collected enough to build many bombs if she chose to arm weapons, according to the United Nations Energy Agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, and the International Atomic Energy Agency said it had not found signs of weapons.
If its nuclear facilities are attacked, Iran has said it will discuss strongly and will consider leaving the United Nations Treaty for the lack of nuclear weapons.
The Iranian economy and the future of 90 million people are at stake.
For years of sanctions, chronic inflation – exacerbated by economic mismanagement and corruption. Now, many Iranians say they feel Trapped I hope the United States deal will help Iran.
What happened in the previous talks?
It was the first round of nuclear talks In Oman Two weeks ago, followed by the second round in Rome at the end of last week.
The two sides said that the negotiations were constructive and that they were moving in the right direction.
Iranian officials said they are ready to reduce the enrichment levels of those specified in the 2015 nuclear agreement with the Obama administration – 3.67 percent – about the level needed to produce fuel for nuclear power plants.
What are the thorny points?
The issue of allowing Iran to continue enriching uranium has divided Mr. Trump’s advisers.
Mr. Witkoff described a possible agreement that would allow Iran to enrich uranium at the low levels needed to produce fuel for energy, along with monitoring.
But in a recent Bodcasts, Foreign Minister Marco Rubio suggested that Iran could have a civilian nuclear program without enriching uranium locally – by importing enriched uranium, as other countries do.
Michael Walz, National Security Adviser, said that the United States is seeking a complete dismantling of the Iranian nuclear program, a position that Iran considered non -Starter.
Iran has called on the United States to invest in its nuclear program and help in building 19 additional nuclear reactors as an additional security measure, according to Mr. Aragcha, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“The chance of a trillion dollars that our economy is open to the United States may be,” Mr. Aragchi said in a speech on social media. “This includes companies that can help us generate clean electricity from non -hydrose sources.”
Approval of the limits of the amount of what Iran can possess in uranium and to what level it can be enriched by Mr. Trump to criticize that he only repeats the main elements of the nuclear agreement during the Obama era, which Mr. Trump condemned as “one of the worst and most unilateral transactions, as the United States has ever entered.”
Analysts say that some possible measures to improve the Obama era deal can include tougher monitoring of Iranian nuclear activities and joint projects to operate nuclear facilities and make Iran’s guarantees permanent.
How did we get here?
The two sides came in negotiations with Deep lack of confidence.
The previous deal between Iran, the United States and other world powers, signed during the Obama administration, was called the joint comprehensive work plan.
Settings were placed in place to prevent Iran from arming its nuclear program by determining the enrichment of uranium by 3.5 percent, transferring enriched uranium stocks to Russia and allowing to monitor cameras and inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency
European companies withdrew from Iran, and Banks stopped working with Iran, for fear of US sanctions.
About a year after reaching the deal, Iran moved away, and did not see any financial benefits, from its obligations and increased levels of uranium enrichment, as it gradually reached 60 percent.
What comes after that?
Until now, it seems that there is a political will on both sides to reach a new deal, and the discussions are scheduled to continue.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khawni, who prevented negotiation with Mr. Trump in the past, authorized the talks and said that the negotiating team has his support.
But the deal is not necessarily just around the corner.
The conversations can still collapse at the technical level, which was the most challenging part of the previous negotiations.
It is also possible to reach a temporary deal to freeze uranium enrichment while the permanent deal is eliminated.
Lara Gakes and David E. Sanger The reports contributed.
