Iran to give talks with US ‘genuine chance’
Leader’s advisor: FM will go to Oman with full authority
Iran said on Friday it is giving high-level nuclear talks with the US “a genuine chance” as the two countries are set to hold the negotiations in Oman today to resolve a decades-long dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesman said on Friday Washington should value Tehran’s decision to engage in talks despite what he called the US’s “prevailing confrontational hoopla”.
“We intend to assess the other side’s intent and resolve this Saturday,” spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X. “In earnest and with candid vigilance, we are giving diplomacy a genuine chance.”
US President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement on Monday that Washington and Tehran would begin talks in Oman, a Persian Gulf state that has mediated between the West and the Islamic Republic before.
The talks were first announced by Trump during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington.
For months, Tehran and Washington have been expressing their interest to begin new negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.
On March 7, Trump sent a letter to the Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, calling for resumption of nuclear negotiations while warning of possible military action if Iran refuses.
“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing, and it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”
Iranian military officials and Armed Forces have repeatedly underlined the country’s preparedness to defend the country.
Iran rejects bullying
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-e Ravanchi said on Friday that Iran rejects any bullying and coercion.
“Without threats and intimidation from the American side, there is a good possibility of reaching an accord”, he said on Friday.
Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran’s Leader, in a post on X also said “Important and practical” Iranian proposals have been prepared in pursuit of “a real and fair” agreement.
“If Washington comes to the talks with sincere intentions and genuine will to reach an agreement, the path to a deal will be clear and smooth,” Shamkhani added.
He said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was heading to Oman with “full authority” for indirect talks.
The talks would be led by Araghchi and US special envoy Steve Witkoff, with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi as intermediary.
In recent months, Iran has also been talking with France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia – the signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal from which Trump unilaterally withdrew during his first term and reimposed sweeping economic sanctions on Iran.
Tehran adhered to the deal for a year after Washington withdrew from it, but later began rolling back its own commitments.
Diplomatic solution
On Friday, Germany urged Iran and the US to reach a “diplomatic solution”, saying that it is a “positive development that there is a channel for dialogue between Iran and the United States”.
Ahead of the talks, the US imposed additional sanctions on Iran targeting its oil network and nuclear program.
Iran’s nuclear agency chief Mohammad Eslami downplayed their impact, saying: “They applied maximum pressure with various sanctions, but they were unable to prevent the country from progressing.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday said, “We hope that’ll lead to peace. We’ve been very clear what Iran is never going to have a nuclear weapon, and I think that’s what led to this meeting,” Rubio said during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Donald Trump.
Tehran says its program is purely for peaceful energy purposes, but the West says it goes far beyond any civilian requirements, and suspects Tehran of covertly seeking to develop nuclear weapons capability.