A new round of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington was held on Thursday ahead of UN nuclear guardian key Rafael Grossi’s meeting with Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s nuclear energy agency.
A second round of Omani-mediated discussions will take place on Saturday in Rome for Iranian and US representatives, one week after the long-ago foes held their highest levels of discussions since US President Donald Trump abruptly ended a monument nuclear deal in 2018.
Grossi and Eslami had no immediate access to any details about the meeting, but Iran’s reform-oriented newspaper, Shargh, described his visit as” carefully considerable at the present juncture.”
Grossi and Abbas Araghchi, who led the initial exchanges with US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Saturday, met on Wednesday.
Araghchi claimed to have met with the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency in a “useful” manner.
In the upcoming weeks, he said,” The IAEA may play a vital role in the peaceful arrangement of the Iranian nuclear record.”
In response to” spoilers” trying to “derail current negotiations,” Araghchi demanded the IAEA chief to “keep the organization away from politics.” He didn’t go into more detail.
Their discussion was characterized as “important,” according to Grossi.
Cooperation with IAEA is absolutely necessary to give reliable claims about Iran’s peaceful nuclear program at a time when geopolitics is absolutely necessary, he said on X.
No far away from a bomb’s disposal.
Grossi informed Le Monde before traveling to Iran that Tehran was” no way” from having a nuclear weapon.
Tehran has continuously refuted accusations made by Western governments that Iran is attempting to acquire nuclear weapons.
Iran began rolling up its own agreements under the 2015 nuclear offer a month after Trump pulled out of the package, which relieved it of sanctions in exchange for IAEA-monitored limits on its nuclear activities.
In its most recent report, the IAEA claimed Iran had an estimated 274.8 kilogrammes (605 pounds ) of uranium that had been enriched to up to 60 %.
Although that amount is much higher than the 3.67 percent enhancement cap specified in the 2015 agreement, it falls short of the 90 pct threshold for a nuclear weapon.
Trump has resumed his “maximum force” scheme of imposing financial sanctions on Iran since taking office in January.
He urged deals and warned of possible military activity if Iran refused, and he also wrote to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, in a letter in March.
Trump had reportedly opposed an Jewish plan to attack Iranian nuclear infrastructure in the New York Times on Thursday, opting instead to seek a negotiated settlement.
Conflicting opportunities
Khamenei warned on Tuesday that despite the successful opening of the discussions with the US, they may still turn out to be unsuccessful.
” The agreements may or may not yield outcomes,” he said.
After Witkoff called for a block, Araghchi said on Wednesday that Iran’s advancement of uranium was certainly up for discussion.
Before the 2015 agreement, Witkoff had previously demanded just that Iran returning to the 3.67 percent advancement cap.
Araghchi stated that he hoped to start discussions about the details of a potential deal, but that the United States would need to take” constructive opportunities” in this regard.
He warned that “if we continue to hear conflicting and conflicting posts, we will have problems.”
Iran’s leading minister made a “pre-planned” trip to Moscow on Thursday, making it their official stop.
Russia’s “everything” in its energy, according to the Kremlin, is available to “help” Iran’s nuclear program.
