CNN
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The US and Iran are scheduled to hold second round nuclear talks on Saturday as what they are looking for in the deal is beginning to take shape.
Delegations from both countries met in Oman last weekend for consultations mediated by the Gulf Arab state. The next round will be held in Rome.
A speech by the parties, described last weekend as “constructive,” reversing remarks from various members of the Trump administration, said Iran was a more reconciliatory approach to the maximalist demands that he said “red line.”
This lies in the threat that President Donald Trump will rely on a military strike against Iranian nuclear sites with Israel’s help.
This is what we know about the lecture.
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 so far has been pushing for a uranium enrichment programme of up to 60% purity, close to the weapons grade level, about 90%.
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.
What does Trump want and what is the key issue?
Trump said the deal he is hoping for with Iran is not similar to the 2015 agreement inked under the Obama administration.
“It’s not, and it’s probably much stronger,” he said.
Comments from Steve Witkoff, a Middle Eastern envoy group that represented the United States last weekend, suggested something recent.
Iran has been worried about hitting a nuclear deal with Trump in recent weeks, saying it has a history of backtracking. The Islamic Republic has also expressed objection to all transactions that completely dismantle the nuclear program, as stipulated in the 2015 agreement, not only limiting its uranium enrichment to civilian use.
Formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 deal ensured through many mechanisms that Iran’s nuclear program was peaceful.
However, contradictory remarks from US officials around the time of last Saturday’s meeting disrupted Washington’s demands.
Witkov, who represented the US last weekend, said that discussions with Iran were about verifying its nuclear program, as other US officials have said in the past, but stopped mentioning the demand for a complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program. In other words, it shows a transaction similar to a contract brokered by Obama.
“Conversations with Iranians will be a lot about two key points,” Witkoff told Fox News on Monday. The first is the verification of uranium enrichment. “And ultimately it includes weaponization verification, missiles, the types of missiles they stocked there, and bomb triggers.”
However, Witkov later overturned his position in a statement from X, saying that the final contract with Iran would require “stop and eliminate nuclear enrichment and weaponization programs.”
Asked to explain Witkoff’s obvious reversal, the administrative authorities told CNN:
Other officials were Hawkish about what the US expects from Iran. On Sunday, the day after Witkov began consultations with Iranian negotiators in Oman, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegses called on Tehran to completely dismantle the nuclear program.
“Iran, come to the table, negotiate and complete dismantle your nuclear capabilities,” he told Fox News.
Iranian officials have dismissed the proposal as a non-starter and accused the US of using it as an excuse to weaken and ultimately defeat the Islamic Republic. Tehran is entitled to a private nuclear program under the United Nations Convention.
However, UN nuclear observers have warned that Iran is accelerating its uranium enrichment to an astonishing level.
This week, Iran doubled the right to enrich uranium and accused the Trump administration of sending mixed signals.
“Iran’s enrichment (program) is a realistic and authentic issue and is ready to build trust on potential concerns, but the enrichment issue is unnegotiable,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Aragci told reporters on Wednesday.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei was opposed to X early on Thursday, comparing the US position to “professional fouls and unfair behavior in football.”
“In diplomacy, such changes (pushed by the Hawks who can’t grasp the logic/art of the production of Korassential trade) could simply put apart an overture at risk,” he writes. “It could be perceived as a lack of severity, let alone integrity. …We’re still in test mode.”
Iranian media reported that Tehran set strict terms ahead of talks with the US, saying the “red line” includes “blackmail language” and “overreaching demands on Iran’s nuclear programme.” The US must also refrain from raising issues related to Iran’s defense industry, said Iranian media likely referring to Iran’s ballistic missile program, which the US Middle Eastern allies view as a threat to their security.
Meanwhile, Iran’s finest leadership is approaching consultation with great caution.
In his first comment since Iranian-US negotiators met in Oman, Khamenei said on Tuesday that Tehran was “not overly optimistic or overly pessimistic” about talks with the US over the nuclear program.
Where does Israel stand?
Israel is one of the solid supporters that Iran will completely dismantle nuclear weapons and not acquire nuclear bombs.
On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement defending its aggressive policy against Iran, saying “Israel will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.”
A source familiar with the issue told CNN on Monday that Witkov spoke with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs and Netanyahu’s closest confidant, Ron Dahmer, about the first round of his meeting with the US in Oman.
Dharmer was sitting next to Netanyahu in Washington last week when Trump suddenly announced that US-Iran talks were about to begin. The surprising revelation at the beginning of the negotiations seemed to surprise Netanyahu, who is increasingly promoting military options for Iran.
Sources familiar with the matter have previously told CNN that news of the US-Iran nuclear talks “certainly not” is Israel’s preference, and it remains unclear whether Netanyahu was given advance notice of negotiations or had been consulted in advance, the sources said.
Sitting next to Trump in his oval office earlier this month, Netanyahu promoted a Libyan-style nuclear deal between the US and Iran. In 2003, after the two years of More Margadafi’s petroleum embargo, they dismantled the nuclear program of North African countries in the hopes of guiding a new era of relations with the US.
After abandoning its nuclear program, Libya overthrew Gadafi’s regime and descended into a civil war after a 2011 NATO-backed uprising that led to his murder. Iranian officials have long warned that similar deals would be rejected from the start.
Dahmer and Mossad director David Barnea met with Witkov in Paris on Friday ahead of his second round of Iranian talk.
Earlier this year, the US intelligence agency warned both the Biden and Trump administrations, who are likely to try and hold the key to Iran’s nuclear program this year, according to sources familiar with the assessment.
However, the New York Times reported Wednesday that Trump urged Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear sites next month, and that he would hold talks with Iran.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office did not deny the truth of the article, claiming instead that Israel’s actions delayed Iran’s nuclear program.
“I’m not saying I’ve been shaken off,” Trump said Thursday in response to a New York Times report that he had shaken off the Israeli strike, but “I’m not in a hurry because I think Iran has a great country and I have a chance to live happily without dying.”
“I hope they (Iran) want to talk about it. If so, it will be a very good thing for them. I would like to see Iran flourish in the future.”