Iran, US conclude ‘useful’ nuclear talks in Oman, next round to be announced
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Both Iran and the US remain deeply divided on several red lines over Tehran’s nuclear programme that negotiators will have to circumvent to reach a new deal.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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DUBAI – Fresh talks between Iranian and US negotiators to resolve disputes over Tehran’s nuclear programme ended in Oman on May 11 with further negotiations planned, officials said, as Tehran publicly insisted on continuing its uranium enrichment.
Though Tehran and Washington both have said they prefer diplomacy to resolve the decades-long nuclear dispute, they remain deeply divided on several red lines that negotiators will have to circumvent to reach a new nuclear deal and avert future military action.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Mr Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held the fourth round of talks in Muscat through Omani mediators, despite Washington taking a tough stance in public that Iranian officials said would not help the negotiations.
Mr Araqchi said the talks were “more serious and more straightforward compared to the previous three rounds”.
“We now understand each other better and hope to make further progress moving forward ... Iran’s uranium enrichment must continue, although its scope and level may change,” Mr Araqchi told state TV.
A senior official from President Donald Trump’s administration said May 11’s “direct and indirect” discussions had lasted more than three hours.
“We are encouraged by today’s outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future,” the official said.
On May 8, Mr Witkoff told Breitbart News that Washington’s red line is: “No enrichment. That means dismantlement, no weaponisation,” requiring the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear facilities in Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan.
But Mr Araqchi said “there is absolutely no room for compromise on uranium enrichment” on Iran’s soil.
“Its dimensions, scale, level, or amount might be subject to certain limitations – for confidence-building purposes, for instance – as was done in the past, but the principle of enrichment itself is simply not negotiable,” he said after the talks.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said in a post on X that the Iran-US talks included “useful and original” ideas, adding that the next round of talks will take place after both sides have consulted with their respective capitals.
Trump’s Middle East visit
The fourth round of talks threatened military action against Iran
Reacting to Mr Witkoff’s comments, Mr Araqchi said on May 11 that Iran would not compromise on its nuclear rights, which include uranium enrichment.
Tehran is willing to negotiate some curbs on its nuclear work in return for the lifting of sanctions, according to Iranian officials, but ending its enrichment programme or surrendering its enriched uranium stockpile are among “Iran’s red lines that could not be compromised” in the talks.
A senior Iranian official close to the negotiating team said that US demands for “zero enrichment and dismantling Iran’s nuclear sites would not help in progressing the negotiations”.
“What the US says publicly differs from what is said in negotiations,” the official said, on condition of anonymity.
Moreover, Iran has flatly ruled out negotiating its ballistic missile programme and the clerical establishment demands watertight guarantees Mr Trump would not again ditch a nuclear pact.
Mr Trump exited Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers in 2018 during his first term and re-imposed tough sanctions that have devastated Iran’s economy.
Iran, which has long said its nuclear programme is peaceful, has breached the 2015 pact’s nuclear curbs since 2019, including “dramatically” accelerating its enrichment of uranium to up to 60 per cent purity, close to the roughly 90 per cent level that is weapons-grade, according to the UN nuclear watchdog. REUTERS
