MUSCAT, Oman – Iran and the US will hold more negotiations on Tehran’s rapidly moving forward nuclear program next week, Iranian state television reported Saturday at the end of first-round talks between the two countries since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Iranian television showed a direct interaction between the two countries, trapped in decades of tension, as US Middle Eastern envoy Steve Witkov and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said they had “temporarily spoken before the Foreign Minister of Oman.”
American officials did not immediately approve Iran’s report. It is likely that Tehran has speeded up the public ahead of the possibility of Trump’s post on social media. But by declaring that both sides met in person, it suggests that negotiations were successful, even if it was simple.
The lecture began at around 3:30pm on site. Both sides gave a speech at a location on the outskirts of Oman for over two hours and ended the meeting around 5:50pm local time. The convoy, believed to carry Witkov, disappeared into traffic around the neighborhood, home to the US embassy, after returning to Muscat, Oman’s capital.
Negotiation interests did not rise in both countries, which were closed to hostility for half a century. Trump repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program if the deal was not reached. Iranian officials are increasingly warning that uranium stockpiles can be enriched to weapons-grade levels to pursue nuclear weapons.
The lecture was held in Oman on Saturday afternoon.
Associated Press journalists saw a convoy that believes Witkov is leaving the Omani Foreign Ministry on Saturday afternoon speeding up to the outskirts of Muscat. The fleet entered the compound, and minutes later, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghhai wrote on social platform X that “indirect talks” had begun.
“These consultations will be held at a location planned by the Omani hosts, with representatives from the Islamic Republic of Iran and the US sitting in the hall and side, conveying their perspectives and positions to each other through the Omani Foreign Minister,” Baghhai wrote.
About an hour later, Bagaei appeared on television in the Iranian province, admitting that consultations were taking place at that time.
“The purpose of the Islamic Republic in Iran is very clear. We have only one goal: to protect Iran’s national interests,” he said. “We are giving diplomacy a real honest opportunity, so we can lift sanctions through dialogue and, more importantly, through the end.”
Baghaei added: “This is just the beginning. Therefore, it is only natural that at this stage, both parties will present a fundamental position through Omani mediators. Therefore, I don’t think this round of negotiations will be long.”
Araghchi spoke to an Iranian journalist previously.
“If there’s enough will on both sides, we’ll decide on the timetable. But it’s still too early to talk about it,” Araghchi said in an audio clip issued by the IRNA. “What is clear now is that negotiations are indirect and will be carried out as necessary to reach an agreement that leads to securing the national interests of Iranian people, only in our view on the nuclear issue.”
Trump and Witkoff both discussed being “direct.”
“I think our position starts with the demolition of your program, and that’s what we are today,” Witkov told the Wall Street Journal before his trip. “That doesn’t mean that, by the way, we’re not going to find any other way to find a compromise between the two countries in margins.”
He added:
Relief and enrichment of sanctions remains
The US can provide sanctions relief to Iran’s plagued economy, but it remains unclear how willing Iran will admit it. Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran could only maintain a small stockpile of uranium enriched at 3.67%. Today, Tehran stockpiles are rich in materials up to 60%, a short technical step from weapons grade levels, which can allow for the construction of multiple nuclear weapons if chosen. Judging from negotiations since Trump unilaterally withdraws the US in 2018, Iran will ask to enrich uranium to at least 20%.
One thing that doesn’t do is abandon the program completely. It has stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal for the so-called Libyan solution, “You’ll come in, blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American overseer, American execution.”
Iranians, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supported what ultimately happened to Moremar Gadafi, the late Libyan dictator who was killed with his own gun by rebels in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.
