Arabic version: المفاوضات الأمريكية الإيرانية تنتهي بتقدم ملحوظ، حسب الوسيط
According to BBC News,
High-stakes nuclear talks between the US and Iran have ended in Geneva after “significant progress,” the Omani foreign minister says, though the chances of a deal that could avert a war remain unclear. Badr Albusaidi, who acted as mediator, said discussions on a technical level will take place next week in Vienna.
There was no immediate comment from either US or Iranian officials. President Donald Trump has threatened to strike Iran if there is no deal coinciding with the largest US military build-up in the Middle East since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Iran, meanwhile, has vowed to respond to an attack with force.
While Trump has said he prefers to solve the crisis through diplomacy, he has also said he is considering a limited strike on Iran to pressure its leaders to accept a deal. Trump, however, has done little to explain what he is demanding in the negotiations and why there could be the need to take military action now, eight months after the US bombed Iranian nuclear facilities during a war between Israel and Iran.
Iran has rejected the US demand to stop the enrichment of uranium in its territory, but there are indications that it has offered some concessions about its nuclear programme. As in the previous two rounds of discussions earlier this month, the Iranian delegation is being led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, while the US is represented by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
In recent weeks, the US has sent thousands of troops and what Trump has described as an “armada” to the region, including two aircraft carriers along with other warships, as well as fighter jets and refuelling aircraft. Trump first threatened to bomb Iran last month as security forces brutally repressed anti-government protests, killing thousands of people. But since then, his focus has turned to Iran’s nuclear programme, which has been at the centre of a long-running dispute with the West.
For decades, the US and Israel have accused Iran of trying to secretly develop a nuclear weapon. Iran insists its programme is only for peaceful purposes, though the country is the only non-nuclear-armed state to have enriched uranium at near weapons-grade level. The indirect talks are taking place at the Omani ambassador’s residence in Geneva.
Iran’s proposals have not been made public, but the discussions in Geneva could have included the creation of a regional consortium for uranium enrichment, which has been raised in previous negotiations, as well as ideas about what to do with Iran’s roughly 400kg (880lb) stockpile of highly enriched uranium and verification and monitoring mechanisms. In return, Iran expects the lifting of sanctions that have crippled its economy. Opponents of the regime say any relief would give the clerical rulers a lifeline. But it remains unclear which conditions Trump could find acceptable for a deal. Iran has already rejected discussing limits to the country’s ballistic missile programme and ending its support for proxies in the region – an alliance Tehran calls the “Axis of Resistance” that includes Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, militias in Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen.
