Iran, US nuclear talks end in Muscat

DUBAI - Fresh talks between Iranian and US negotiators to resolve disputes over Tehran's nuclear programme ended in Oman on Sunday with further negotiations planned, officials said, as Tehran insisted in public on continuing uranium enrichment.

Though Tehran and Washington both have said they prefer diplomacy to resolve the decades-long nuclear dispute, they remain deeply divided on several red lines that negotiators will have to circumvent to reach a new nuclear deal and avert future military action.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the latest round of "indirect talks were difficult but useful to better understand each other's positions".

In a post on the X platform, he added that the time and venue of the next round of negotiations would be announced by Muscat.

A senior official from President Donald Trump's administration said Sunday's "direct and indirect" discussions had lasted more than three hours.

"We are encouraged by today's outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future," the official said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held the fourth round of talks in Muscat through Omani mediators, despite Washington taking a tough stance in public that Iranian officials said would not help the negotiations.

On Thursday, Witkoff told Breitbart News that Washington's red line is: "No enrichment. That means dismantlement, no weaponization," requiring the complete dismantling of Iran's nuclear facilities in Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan.

"If they are not productive on Sunday, then they won't continue and we'll have to take a different route," Witkoff said about the talks.

TRUMP'S MIDDLE EAST VISIT

The fourth round of talks took place ahead of Trump's Middle East visit. Trump, who has threatened military action against Iran if diplomacy fails, has restored a "maximum pressure" campaign on Tehran since returning to the White House in January.

Reacting to Witkoff's comments, Araqchi said on Sunday Iran would not compromise on its nuclear rights, which include uranium enrichment.

Tehran is willing to negotiate some curbs on its nuclear work in return for the lifting of sanctions, according to Iranian officials, but ending its enrichment programme or surrendering its enriched uranium stockpile are among "Iran's red lines that could not be compromised" in the talks.

A senior Iranian official close to the negotiating team said that US demands for "zero enrichment and dismantling Iran's nuclear sites would not help in progressing the negotiations".

"What the US says publicly differs from what is said in negotiations," the official said, on condition of anonymity.

Moreover, Iran has flatly ruled out negotiating its ballistic missile programme and the clerical establishment demands watertight guarantees Trump would not again ditch a nuclear pact.

Trump exited Tehran's 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers in 2018 during his first term and reimposed tough sanctions that have devastated Iran's economy.

Iran, which has long said its nuclear programme is peaceful, has breached the 2015 pact's nuclear curbs since 2019, 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 UN nuclear watchdog.