Following the third round of negotiations between US and Iranian officials, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the talks were “much more serious” than before and expressed hope that a deal could be reached.
“This round of talks was much more serious than in the past, and we gradually moved into more detailed and technical discussions,” Aragchi told reporters on Saturday following the negotiations, which took place in Oman.
“Some differences are serious, some less so. I’m hopeful about reaching a deal, but yet cautious,” the Iranian diplomat added.
For the first time since the negotiations began earlier this month, the two sides sent working-level delegations to discuss the technical details of a potential nuclear deal. Separate from the technical talks, Aragchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff also engaged in negotiations.
A US official told The Associated Press that the talks were “productive and positive” and that the negotiations were held both directly and indirectly.
“This latest round of direct and indirect discussions lasted over four hours,” the US official said. “There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal. We agreed to meet again soon, in Europe, and we thank our Omani partners for facilitating these talks.”
The two sides agreed to hold another round of negotiations, which is expected to happen on Saturday, May 3. President Trump has been threatening to bomb Iran if a deal isn’t reached on Iran’s nuclear program, even though US intelligence agencies concluded in their annual threat assessment that there’s no evidence Tehran is working to build a nuclear weapon.
Coinciding with the negotiations on Saturday, a major explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, Iran, killed at least 40 people and injured over 800. So far, Iranian authorities have not said what caused the massive blast.
If the explosion wasn’t an accident and was caused by sabotage, Israel would be the most likely culprit since it has a history of carrying out covert attacks inside Iran and targeted the Shahid Rajaee Port in a 2020 cyberattack that disrupted shipping operations.
Israel also has a history of conducting covert operations inside Iran as a way to sabotage diplomacy between Washington and Tehran. In April 2021, Israeli intelligence detonated an explosive in Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility about a week after the Biden administration began indirect negotiations with Iran.
