Iran said on Sunday that the fourth round of negotiations it held with the US earlier in the day were “difficult but useful,” and both sides have agreed to hold more talks.
“The fourth round of indirect Iran-US negotiations is concluded; difficult but useful talks to better understand each other’s positions and to find reasonable & realistic ways to address the differences,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei wrote on X. “Next round will be coordinated and announced by Oman.”
A US official told Axios that an agreement was reached on moving forward and working out the technical details of a potential nuclear deal. “We are encouraged by today’s outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future,” the official said.
The US delegation was led by President Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the Iranian side was led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. According to the US official speaking to Axios, negotiations were held both indirectly and directly.
It remains unclear exactly what kind of conditions the US is looking to impose on Iran’s nuclear program. Publicly, US officials have been calling for Iran to eliminate its nuclear enrichment program, which is a non-starter for Tehran.
“Enrichment capability is one of the honors and achievements of the Iranian nation,” Aragchi said ahead of Sunday’s talks, adding that the issue was “non-negotiable.”
President Trump said last week that the US hasn’t decided yet if it would agree to a deal that would allow Iran to continue enriching uranium. He has been threatening to bomb Iran if a deal isn’t reached, even though his intelligence agencies recently reaffirmed that there’s no evidence Tehran is building a bomb or that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reversed his ban on the development of nuclear weapons.
Difficult But Useful Talks….It sounds like a deal would be far away…! Why can't Trump just talk to John Kerry to get the Notes of Meetings on Iran's civilian nuclear program from the previous go-around…?! Nevertheless this could be a delay tactic to guide Israel to attack Iran by its own…!
Highly cynical, yet?….!
One possible way to get past the enrichment issue would be Iran sharing the technology with the Saudis in a consortium setting that the Saudis could fund in exchange for the benefits of the program.
That is absolutely without a doubt the most stupid and horrible idea I have ever encountered. You do realize that Saud is the most racist anti-Persian, anti-Iranian, anti-Shia regime and directly supports the terrorist child murderer and rapist al-Sharaa in Syria, who is also a Saudi subject?
Some people here think that because Iran and Saud have had a diplomatic rapprochement in recent years and mutual exchanges of ministers and official state visits and so forth, that somehow they are now friends. Uh, no. That's not how it works. They are not friends. If Saud was pro-Iran or willing to be "friends" with Iran, they would start calling the Persian Gulf by its rightful and historic name. Instead, they call it "Arabian Gulf". Everyday they harass their own Shia population and for many years they subject the Yemeni Shia to a genocidal war of extermination.
Saud is a racist and genocidal regime, like their "Israeli" cousins. Iran would never in a trillion years share technology with one of its worst archenemies. Iran would sooner normalize with the Zionist entity than ever give Saud any kind of access to its nuclear technology, or to any kind of technology in general.
Also, the IRGC is the real power in Iran. The presidency is nothing more than a figurehead regime. Only Khamenei has executive power and the final decision on key matters, like negotiations, and he is fully aligned with the IRGC. They are allowing these "negotiations" only as a game to keep the pro-West reformists busy until the next elections, when a competent nationalist government can be brought together.
But there will never be a "deal" until the US starts to respect Iran and the Iranian people and gives up its hegemony in West Asia. Because the US, like "Israel" and Saud, is a hopelessly racist and genocidal regime that is now dedicated to the extermination of the Shia, that day will never come.
Regional enmities (like Saudis vs Iran or Sunni vs Shia) are divide and rule techniques. Are you a UK or Izzy agent to be fostering it here?
I think even the Saudis are getting wise to that. And they also get that the future lies with local, regional, and international cooperation and collaboration, not USUKIS led conflict.
As for Iran’s desires, let’s have them be the judge? The idea of tech sharing and enrichment consortium was an old Iranian offer from the early 2000’s … the Gulf leaders weren’t ready to go for it then but may be now. Look it up if you dare …
Iran just offered a consortium with UAE and Saudi A … still think it’s nonsense?