Top Iranian and US negotiators will meet again on Saturday to iron out a new deal curbing Tehran’s advancing nuclear programme, while US President Donald Trump signalled confidence in clinching a new pact that would block Iran’s path to a nuclear bomb.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will reportedly negotiate indirectly with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Muscat through Omani mediators, a week after a second round in Rome that both sides described as constructive.
DAILY POST reports that talks are set to start at expert-level, which will begin drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, ahead of an indirect meeting between the lead negotiators.
In an interview with Time magazine published on Friday, Trump expressed optimism of making a deal with Iran, but he repeated a threat of military action against Iran if diplomacy fails.
While both Tehran and Washington have said they are set on pursuing diplomacy, they reportedly remain far apart in a dispute that has rumbled on for more than two decades.
The US president, who has restored a campaign on Tehran since February, ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers in 2018 during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.
According to the UN nuclear watchdog, Iran, since 2019, has breached the pact’s nuclear curbs including “dramatically” accelerating its enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% level that is weapons grade.
This week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran would have to entirely stop enriching uranium under a deal, and import any enriched uranium it needed to fuel its sole functioning atomic energy plant, Bushehr.
Nuclear deal: Iran, US to resume talks in Oman to narrow gaps
