Talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program seem to be moving forward. With meetings possibly heading to Rome, the stakes for the two nations are high.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program if a deal isn’t reached. Officials in Iran warn that they could pursue producing a nuclear weapon with their current stockpiles.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani says Italy has agreed to host the talks.
“We are ready to welcome, as always, meetings that can bring positive results, in this case on the nuclear issue,” Tajani says.
Oman hosted the first round of talks on Saturday. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff met and spoke face-to-face with an Omani mediator.
Oman will likely continue to mediate between the two sides in Italy.
Before that happens, Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will head to Iran this week. He will possibly discuss ways to improve access for UN inspectors in Iran.
The atomic agency played a key role in confirming Iran’s compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal. The deal saw Iran agree to greatly reduce its stockpile of uranium. It also agreed to enrich the mineral only enough to supply its nuclear power plant.
The 2015 deal also lifted economic sanctions on Iran and unfroze its assets around the world.
President Trump removed America from the agreement in 2018. The deal’s collapse refroze those funds and limited Iran’s ability to sell crude oil abroad. But the IAEA kept working in the Islamic Republic even as Iran slowly withdrew access.
Today, Iran enriches much more uranium than it needs for power. The country has enough enriched uranium for multiple nuclear bombs, should it choose to build them.
Under a new deal, the United States could offer sanctions relief for Iran’s struggling economy. But it’s unclear how much Iran is willing to give up in exchange. Neither side has said openly what it is seeking in the talks.
“There must definitely be guarantees in place regarding the fulfillment of commitments,” Iran’s spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Monday. “The issue of guarantees is especially important given the history of broken promises.”
He added that if talks include pressure, bans, or threats, “direct negotiations will not take place.”
President Trump seems to have high hopes for Witkoff’s ongoing negotiating abilities. He says, “We’ll be making a decision on Iran very quickly.”
Let what you say be simply “Yes” or “No”; anything more than this comes from evil. — Matthew 5:37
