On Monday, US President Donald Trump made a surprising announcement that the United States and Iran were the direct discussions about the Tehran’s nuclear program at the beginning of the Foreign Minister of the Iranian Foreign Minister that the discussions in Oman would be indirect.
In a further sign of the difficult path to a deal between the two geopolitical enemies, Trump gave a strong warning that “Iran will be in great danger” if the conversations are unsuccessful.
In the past few weeks, Iran had used Trump’s demands that it was negotiated or bombed directly through his nuclear program, and it seemed to stick to this position on Monday.
“We have direct conversations with Iran and you started. It will take on Saturday. We have a very big meeting and we will see what can happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during the talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“And I think everyone agrees that it would be preferable to make a deal,” said Trump. Trump said that the talks on Saturday with Iran would be at a very high level, but declined to become complex. He also declined to say where the conversations would take place, but spread the possibility that a deal could be achieved.
The Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi put on X that indirect conversations on a high level would have in Oman, and added: “It is just as an opportunity as a test. The ball is in the American dish.”
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States and Iran were ready to start direct discussions about Tehran’s nuclear program. However, a high -ranking Iranian official said that negotiations were indirectly, with Oman acting as an intermediary.
Years since direct conversations
The United States and Iran held indirect discussions during Joe Bidens’ period of the presidential period, but made little or even progress. The recently known direct negotiations between the two governments were under President Barack Obama, who led the 2015 international nuclear agreement, which Trump later submitted.
Trump said that he would prefer a contract for the Iranian nuclear program for a military confrontation and said on March 7 that he had written to the top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to propose discussions. At that time, the Iranian officials said that Tehran would not be bullied in negotiations.
“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and if the conversations are not successful, I actually think that it will be a very bad day for Iran,” said Trump on Monday in the Oval Office.
Such conversations would not take place without the express consent of Khamenei, who said in February that negotiations with the United States were “not clever, wise or honorable”.
Hours before Trump’s announcement, Esmail Baghaei, told the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that Iran was waiting for a reaction from the United States to Tehran’s proposal for indirect negotiations. He said the Islamic Republic believed that it made a generous, responsible and honorable offer.
After Trump spoke, a high -ranking Iranian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said to Reuters: “The talks will not be direct … It will be with the mediation of Oman.” Oman, who maintains good relationships with the USA and Iran, was a long -time channel for news between the rival states.
The Iranian Nournews, which were connected to the top security committee of the country, described Trump’s declaration on a planned direct meeting at a “psychological operation that aims to influence national and international public opinion”.
A second Iranian official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said on the weekend that there was a window of around two months to achieve a deal, and so fear that Iran’s long -time enemy of Iran could start his own attack if the conversations last longer.
Netanyahu, who showed little support for US negotiations with Iran, said that Diplomacy could prevent Tehran from ever getting nuclear weapons “in full way, as was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing.”
We withdrew from deal
During his first term, Trump withdrew the United States from the deal between Iran and the 2015 world powers in order to curb the sensitive nuclear work of Iran as an exchange for sanctions. Trump has also reintroduced the US sanctions.
Since then, Iran has far exceeded the boundaries of this deal for uranium enrichment.
The western powers accuse Iran of having a secret agenda to develop the ability of nuclear weapons by enriching uranium to a high degree of fissile purity, which is justified for a civilian energy program.
Tehran says that his nuclear program serves completely for civilian energy purposes.
The National Security Council of the White House did not immediately respond to a request for details.
The shift comes for a precarious time for Tehran’s regional “axis of resistance”, which has set up at great costs for decades to oppose Israel and the US influence. The axis was severely weakened since the Palestinian group Hamass attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, put the Middle East into conflict.
The Hamas in Gaza and the Hisbollah in Lebanon have been hammered by Israel since the beginning of the Gaza War, while the Houthi movement in Yemen has been targeted by US air attacks since the last month. Israel severely damaged Iran’s air defense last year.
The case of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, another important Iranian ally, further weakened Iran’s influence.
