Tehran and Washington have taken their first tentative steps towards a new deal that would stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons — but significant obstacles lie ahead
TEHRAN — Iran and the Unites States have expressed tentative hope that a deal can be reached on Tehran’s nuclear programme after the two sides took part in “constructive and promising” talks.
Negotiators took part in indirect negotiations in Muscat, Oman on Saturday in a rare example of interaction after weeks of furious rhetoric by both sides and US threats to use military force against Iran if no deal is agreed.
Since his arrival back in the White House Donald Trump has ramped up his “maximum pressure” policy against Iran, threatening to bomb it if it does not dismantle its nuclear programme — perceived by both the US and its ally Israel as a major threat — and prompting anger and suspicion from Iran that had suggested it would not engage with America.
How the negotiations unfolded
The talks this weekend involved Trump’s Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff, the US Ambassador to Oman Ana Escrogima, and Iran’s Foreign Minister and lead negotiator Abbas Araqchi.
The two camps based themselves in two rooms in the Omani capital, each filled with senior diplomats, with the more than two and a half hours of negotiations mediated by Oman’s Foreign Minister, Badr al-Busaidi, who ran from one room to the other four times to convey messages.
The talks marked a rare instance when the readouts from both sides matched each other in sentiment. The White House called the talks “very positive and constructive”.
“These issues are very complicated, and Special Envoy Witkoff’s direct communication today was a step forward in achieving a mutually beneficial outcome,” it said in a statement. “The sides agreed to meet again next Saturday.”
However, significantly, the statement did not rule out Trump’s threatened military strike on Iran if diplomacy failed. It said the US President’s favoured approach was to “resolve our two nations’ differences through dialogue and diplomacy, if that is possible”.
For Iran’s part, Araghchi said the talks were “constructive and promising” and “conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect… Both sides decided to continue the process in a matter of days.”
He also told Iran’s state TV that both sides “got close to the basis for negotiations”, and described the atmosphere of the meeting as such that “it guaranteed continuation [of the talks]”.
According to Araghchi, Iran is hopeful both sides can finalise the groundwork in the next meeting and begin “real talks based on it”.
The options on the table — and the red lines
Little information has been revealed to clarify the “groundwork” on which Iran and the US are working.
However, The i Paper has learned that both sides produced a position paper, indicating their red lines and the areas they viewed as top priorities to discuss.
Some of the sanctions Washington deems acceptable to suspend were among the topics laid out in the position papers that Araghchi and Witkoff swapped via the Omani foreign minister. At present Iran is under US sanctions targeting sectors including banking, oil exports, trade and weapons development.
The i Paper has also heard from Iranian political sources that the US position paper was not harsh in tone and showed American willingness to give concessions to Iran, should Tehran show flexibility as well.
The position paper, sources said, did not discuss Iran’s ballistic missile programme however, which Trump has said must be addressed.
The tone marks a significant shift from Trump’s previous rhetoric, threatening Iran with attacks if it did not agree to a deal on its nuclear programme.
In 2018 Trump pulled the US out of a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that put limits on Iran’s nuclear programme, including curtailing enrichment of uranium to 3.67 per cent, in return for sanctions relief.
Although Iran claims that its nuclear programme is for civilian use only, since the US pulled out of the deal Iran has enriched uranium up to 60 per cent purity, a short technical step from the roughly 90 per cent level necessary for a weapon.
Since the start of his second term, Trump has warned that Iran will be in “great danger” if no new deal is reached, and threatened to bomb Iran. As late as last Monday, Trump said: “If the talks aren’t successful, I think it’s going to be a very bad day for Iran.”
His National Security Adviser Mike Waltz also said last week that the goal was “full dismantlement” of the nuclear programme, something Iran has said it will never agree to.
As a result Iran had rejected the prospect of any negotiations.
But an Iranian diplomatic source told The i Paper that the groundwork put forward on Saturday “indicates seriousness on the US side and verifiable guarantees that it is not seeking to dismantle Tehran’s nuclear programme”.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the US proposal merely asked for guarantees on the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme.
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Tehran is also seeking to extend a 60-day deadline for a comprehensive agreement proposed by Trump in a letter sent to Iran last month. The Iranian Foreign Ministry’s assessment is that “a comprehensive, all-round deal” cannot be closed in two months, according to a second diplomatic source.
“It’s impossible to iron out all the technical details regarding Iran’s nuclear programme in two months. It requires a timeline, and we seek to draw such a timeline,” said the source.
The position echoes what the Iranian foreign minister said upon his arrival in Muscat, where he told state TV: “If there is enough will, we can decide on a timetable for the negotiations.”
Iran also may be feeling the pressure to agree to a deal, amid a struggling economy and inflation of around 30 per cent thanks to sanctions, as well as seismic changes in the region over the last few months. The crippling of Iranian-backed militias Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as the fall of the Syrian regime, have severely curtailed Iran’s power across the Middle East.
More in-depth talks are expected to go ahead in Oman next Saturday. Topics Washington hopes to discuss include its wish that Iran abandons its support for its regional proxies in the region such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Iraqi militias.
However, a senior diplomat in Muscat said talks have and will “only focus on Iran’s nuclear programme and sanctions relief”.
