Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
CNN
–
President Donald Trump was talking to reporters along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
If so, these will be the first in-person meeting between the two countries since 2015, when they signed a landmark nuclear deal under the Obama administration that Trump abandoned three years later.
Iran has denied claiming that the negotiations are direct and mediated by Oman’s Gulf state, where Saturday’s talks take place. In person or not, the talks represent a breakthrough between the Islamic Republic and the US administration led by a president who accused American officials of once planning to assassinate Tehran.
Trump has pledged to do a much stronger nuclear deal than Obama. His administration said it would promote the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program rather than simply limiting it to peaceful purposes. Israel supports this request, but Tehran has completely rejected it as a non-starter.
This is about what we know about the lecture, why they are happening now, and what is at stake.
Trump on Monday said a “very big meeting” would take place “at the top level” on Saturday, adding that he “I agree that it is better to do business than to do what is obvious.”
Those familiar with the plan confirmed to CNN that US officials will meet Iranian officials in Oman in person to discuss the nuclear deal.
Iran has rejected the prospect of direct consultations with the US under the threat of attack, but claims it will hold indirect consultations with the US in Oman. It will be represented by Foreign Minister Abbas Aragut, and the US will send Trump envoy Steve Witkov, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News quoted Aragut on Tuesday. There is no confirmation of any suspected participation from the US for Witkoff.
On Monday, Araguchi said the meeting would be “as much as an opportunity as it was a test.”
“The ball is on the American court,” he wrote to X.
Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian diplomat and former nuclear negotiator, said Iran and the US “may begin indirectly start negotiations, and in an hour or two, if the outcome is positive, Iran and the US representatives will begin a direct meeting.”
“It appears that Washington and Tehran are taking a wise approach and there is an opportunity for consensus,” he wrote to X.
In 2015, nuclear deals took place between Iran and the world powers, including the United States.
Under the contract, Iran had agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions.
However, that agreement was abandoned by Trump in 2018 during his first presidential term. Iran has retaliated by resuming nuclear activities and has so far taken its programme to an astonishing level.
In December, Rafael Grossi, head of the UN nuclear watchdog, told Reuters that Iran has accelerated uranium enrichment to up to 60% purity, close to about 90% weapons grade. In January, Grossi once again warned that Iran was “pushing the gas pedal” to enrich uranium.
Iran claims that its nuclear program is peace.
Last month, Trump sent a letter to Iran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggesting negotiations on a new nuclear deal, revealing that there is a two-month deadline for Iran to reach an agreement.
A few days later, Iranian President Masuud Pezeshkian said the Islamic Republic had refused to negotiate directly with the United States. However, he said the Iranian response submitted by Oman left open the possibility of indirect consultations with Washington.
“We will not avoid consultations. It is a violation of our promise that has caused problems so far,” Pezeschkian said in a television statement. “They have to prove they can build trust.”
Iran has been worried about hitting a nuclear deal with Trump in recent weeks, saying it has a history of backtracking.
Pezeschkian was elected last year on a reformist agenda who pledged to repair relations with the world and facilitate sanctions that crippled the economy. However, he also faces strong and powerful facilities, including Khamenei, which distrusts the United States and is wary of being involved in it.
The value of Iranian currency, RIAL, has increased from the back of the lecture news after recording a record low record a few weeks ago.
US officials say Trump is calling for Iran to demolish the entire nuclear program and will not only accept restrictions on his ability to build nuclear weapons, as in 2015.
The 2015 deal allowed Iran to “enjoy the nuclear rights for peaceful purposes under a related article in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” according to the treaty. The NPT, signed by Iran, is an international agreement aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.
Experts said that complete denuclearization is not a star for Iran, given that the nuclear program is the last remaining leverage to the West after the regional proxies have weakened.
Last week, national security adviser Michael Waltz told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Trump would call for a “complete dismantling” of Iran’s uranium enrichment program.
“Iran must abandon its programme in a way that the whole world can see,” Waltz said, adding that Tehran must agree to “go away for good” from its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Waltz added this time that the deal is not “some sort of TAT TIT that he had under the Obama administration or Biden.”
Asked if the deal resembles the 2015 deal, Trump told reporters on Monday that “it’s different and maybe even stronger.”
If the speech is not successful, Trump said, “I think Iran is in great danger. In fact, I think it will be a very bad day for Iran.”
The sudden revelation of upcoming US and Iranian speeches at a press conference following the Trump and Netanyahu meeting seemed to surprise the Israeli Prime Minister.
The news of the talks told CNN, “certainly not” to Israel’s preferences, two sources familiar with the issue said.
It is unclear whether Netanyahu was given advance notice of US-Iran consultations or had been consulted in advance, sources said.
Sitting by Trump in his oval office, Netanyahu promoted a Libyan-style nuclear deal between the US and Iran. In 2003, after a two-year oil embargo at Muammar Qaddadi’s Regim, they dismantled North Africa’s nuclear program in hopes of leading a new era with the US.
“I think that would be good if we could do it diplomatically in the way that was done in Libya,” Netanyahu said.
After denuclearization, Libya eventually descended into a civil war after a 2011 NATO-backed uprising defeated and killed Gaddafi. Iranian officials have long warned that similar contracts meant to weaken Iran and ultimately overthrow its regime.
Asked about the Libyan style contract, Araguchi told Iranian media on Tuesday that he hoped Israel’s hope for Iran’s nuclear program to be ignored.
“In regards to what the Zionist regime would look like and what they proposed, it is their hope and will ultimately not be considered,” he said.
Netanyahu vehemently opposed the 2015 nuclear deal, saying Iran would not prevent it from building nuclear weapons.
Since the US and Iran’s final speech, Tehran has seen Israel’s ability to significantly reduce its power in the region after it seriously hits the Allied Regional Militia and launches a direct attack on Iranian soil.
In Gaza, Israel continues to smash enclaves as it seeks to eradicate Hamas. In Syria, where Iran used it to transport weapons to the proxies, Tehran’s ally Bashar al-Assad has abdicated, and Israel continues to attack the country and take away new territory. In Iraq, the US retaliated against Iran-backed militants’ attacks on assets there. And in Lebanon, a series of Israeli attacks on the country beheaded the extremist group Hezbollah.
In Yemen, where Iran’s last remaining ally, the Houthi rebel group, stands, the US is stepping up airstrikes.
Last year, Iran and Israel traded two rounds of attacks. Israel is said to have taken Iran’s defense in one of these attacks.
“Remember that Iranian air defense was reflected in the attacks from Israel. They can attack today,” Witkov told journalist Tucker Carlson in an interview last month.