The US Capitol and Iranian flags can be seen at the National Mall in Washington, DC.
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Iran and the US agreed to continue nuclear talks next week, both sides said on Saturday, but Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arakich has expressed “extreme” warnings about the success of negotiations to resolve decades of standoffs.
US President Donald Trump has expressed confidence in winning a new agreement with the Islamic Republic that will block Tehran’s path to nuclear bombs.
Arakchi and Trump’s Middle Eastern envoy Steve Witkov held the third round of speech in Muscat through Omani mediators for about six hours after the second round in Rome, where both parties described as constructive.
“The negotiations are very serious and technical… there are differences in both the main issues and details,” Arakich told Iranian television.
“There is a severity and determination on both sides…but our optimism about the success of the consultation is very cautious.”
A senior US administration official explained the talks and positive and productiveness, adding that both sides agreed to meet again in Europe “soon.”
“There’s still a lot to do, but there have been more progress in getting to the deal,” the official added.
Previous Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said talks would continue next week.
Araqchi said Oman will announce the venue.
Prior to the leading negotiator meeting, indirect consultations at the expert level were held in Muscat to design a framework for potential nuclear deals.
“The presence of experts was beneficial… We will return to our capital and do further reviews to see how discrepancies can be reduced,” Araqchi said.
An Iranian official told Reuters that expert-level negotiations were “difficult, complicated and serious.”
The sole purpose of these consultations is to “build confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief,” Arakich said.
“I think we’re going to do business with Iran,” Trump said in an interview with Time Magazine released Friday, but if diplomacy fails, he repeatedly poses a threat of military action against Iran.
Shortly after Arakich and Witkov began their latest indirect talks on Saturday, Iranian provincial media reported a massive explosion in the Shahid Rajae port of the country near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, killing at least four people and injuring hundreds.
Maximum pressure
Tehran and Washington both say they are set to pursue diplomacy, but remain far away in conflicts that have been rumbling for more than two decades.
Trump, who recovered his “maximum pressure” campaign in Tehran since February, abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers in 2018 and re-ordered crippling sanctions against Iran.
Since 2019, Iran has violated the agreement’s nuclear curb, including accelerating uranium enrichment to up to 60% purity, nearly 90% of its weapons grade level, according to the UN Nuclear Watch Agency.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that Iran must halt uranium enrichment under the trade completely and import the enriched uranium needed to fuel Bussia, the only functional atomic energy plant.
Tehran is willing to negotiate several curbs on nuclear activity in exchange for lifting sanctions, but ending its enrichment programme or abandoning its rich uranium stockpile is one of the “uncompromising red lines of Iran” in his speech.
Additionally, European countries have proposed to US negotiators that the comprehensive deal should include restrictions that would prevent Iran from obtaining or completing the ability to place nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles, some European diplomats said.
Tehran claims its defensive capabilities, including the inability to negotiate missile programs.
Iranian officials with knowledge of the consultation said on Friday that Tehran viewed its missile program as a greater obstacle to discussions.
