Iran, U.S. to resume talks in Oman to narrow gaps over new nuclear deal
The Hindu
Trump confident in new Iran nuclear deal; expert-level talks to follow, red lines include missile program non-negotiable.
Top Iranian and U.S. negotiators will meet again on Saturday (April 26, 2025) to hammer out a new deal curbing Tehran’s advancing nuclear programme, while U.S. President Donald Trump signalled confidence in clinching a new pact that would block Iran’s path to a nuclear bomb.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will negotiate indirectly with Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Muscat through Omani mediators, a week after a second round in Rome that both sides described as constructive.
Talks are set to start at expert-level, which will begin drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, ahead of an indirect meeting between the lead negotiators.
Mr. Trump, in an interview with Time magazine published on Friday (April 25, 2025), said “I think we’re going to make a deal with Iran”, but he repeated a threat of military action against Iran if diplomacy fails.
While both Tehran and Washington have said they are set on pursuing diplomacy, they remain far apart on a dispute that has rumbled on for more than two decades.
Mr. Trump, who has restored a “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran since February, ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers in 2018 during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.
Since 2019, Iran has breached the pact’s nuclear curbs including “dramatically” accelerating its enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% level that is weapons grade, according to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
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