Iran: Talks with US to focus solely on nuclear issue, lifting sanctions
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that negotiations with the United States would solely focus on the nuclear issue and lifting of sanctions as the two countries have begun a diplomatic process to resolve disputes over Iran’s nuclear program.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a televised interview on Sunday that the talks would only focus on “the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions,” and that Iran “will not have any talks with the American side on any other issue.”
“If we consider the letters that were exchanged between the two sides and the process that led to the beginning of the indirect talks in Oman as the basis for the negotiations, we just focused on the nuclear issue in that correspondence”, Baqaei said.
On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held talks in Oman’s capital of Muscat, marking the highest-level Iran-US nuclear negotiations since the collapse of a 2015 accord.
They agreed to meet again in days.
Venue of next talks still unknown
Baqaei also said the negotiations will continue to be indirect, adding that Oman will remain the mediator, but we are discussing the location of future negotiations.
Iran and the US separately described Saturday’s discussions as “constructive.”
Iran said the talks were held indirectly with Oman’s foreign minister acting as an intermediary.
Another round of talks will be held on Saturday, April 19.
Asked about the talks, Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One, “I think they’re going OK. Nothing matters until you get it done.”
After the conclusion of the talks in Oman on Saturday, Baqaei said that the two sides exchanged their positions “in a constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere.”
Baqaei said that after nearly two and half hours of talks, the two countries’ top negotiators had a brief direct conversation in the presence of Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi.
In an interview after the talks, Araghchi said the two sides showed their commitment to advance the talks to reach an agreement that is desirable for both parties.
“I think we came very close to a basis for negotiations,” the Iranian foreign minister said.
“At our next meeting, if we can finalize that basis, we will have gone a large part of the way.”
“Neither party wants fruitless negotiations and prolonged talks,” Araghchi underlined.
The American negotiator Witkoff had said that “our position today” starts by demanding that Iran completely dismantle its nuclear program – a view held by hardliners around Trump that few expect Iran would ever accept.
“That doesn’t mean, by the way, that at the margin we’re not going to find other ways to find compromise between the two countries,” Witkoff told the newspaper.
Trump last month sent a letter to Iran’s Leader via the United Arab Emirates, saying he wanted a deal to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and to avert possible military strikes by the US and Israel.
Iran insists its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful and it will never seek to develop or acquire nuclear weapons.
Trump has warned the US would use military force if no deal was reached and Iran has repeatedly said it won’t negotiate under pressure.
Iranian military officials and Armed Forces have repeatedly underlined the country’s preparedness to defend the country.