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Agence France-Presse

The United States wants a nuclear agreement “as soon as possible”, Iran said after rare talks on Saturday, as US President Donald Trump threatens military action if they fail to reach a deal.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who briefly spoke face-to-face with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff during the indirect meeting in Oman, said the talks would resume next Saturday.
“The American side also said that a positive agreement was one that can be reached as soon as possible but that will not be easy and will require a willingness on both sides,” Araghchi told Iranian state television.
“At today’s meeting, I think we came very close to a basis for negotiation … Neither we nor the other party want fruitless negotiations, discussions for discussions’ sake, time wasting or talks that drag on forever,” he added.
A statement from the White House said: “The discussions were very positive and constructive.
“Special Envoy Witkoff’s direct communication today was a step forward in achieving a mutually beneficial outcome,” it said.
Asked about the talks, Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One: “I think they’re going OK. Nothing matters until you get it done.”

Oman’s foreign minister acted as intermediary in the talks in Muscat, Iran said. The Americans had called for the meetings to be face-to-face.
However, the negotiators also spoke directly for “a few minutes”, Iran’s foreign ministry said. It said the talks were held “in a constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere”.
The long-term adversaries, who have not had diplomatic relations for more than 40 years, are seeking a new nuclear deal after Trump pulled out of an earlier agreement during his first term in 2018.
Araghchi, a seasoned diplomat and main architect of the 2015 accord, and Witkoff, a real estate magnate, led the delegations in the highest-level Iran-US nuclear talks since the previous accord’s collapse.
The two parties were in “separate halls” and “conveying their views and positions to each other through the Omani foreign minister”, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei posted on social media.
The process took place in a “friendly atmosphere”, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador to international bodies in Vienna, called the statements issued by both sides after the talks “encouraging”.
Iran, weakened by Israel’s pummelling of its allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, is seeking relief from wide-ranging sanctions hobbling its economy.
Tehran has agreed to the meetings despite balking at Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign of ramping up sanctions and repeated military threats.
Meanwhile the United States, hand-in-glove with Iran’s arch-enemy Israel, wants to stop Tehran from ever getting close to developing a nuclear bomb.

There were no visible signs of the high-level meeting at a luxury hotel in Muscat, the same venue where the 2015 agreement was struck when Barack Obama was US president.
Witkoff told The Wall Street Journal earlier that the US position starts with demanding that Iran completely dismantle its nuclear programme – a view held by hardliners around Trump that few expect Iran to accept.
“That doesn’t mean, by the way, that at the margin we’re not going to find other ways to find compromise between the two countries,” Witkoff told the newspaper. “Where our red line will be, there can’t be weaponisation of your nuclear capability,” he added.
The talks were revealed in a surprise announcement by Trump during a White House appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
Hours before the talks began, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I want Iran to be a wonderful, great, happy country. But they can’t have a nuclear weapon.”
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s adviser Ali Shamkhani said Iran sought “a real and fair agreement”.
Saturday’s meetings followed repeated threats of military action by both the United States and Israel. “If it requires military, we’re going to have military,” Trump said Wednesday when asked what would happen if the talks fail.
The 2015 deal that Trump abandoned aimed to make it practically impossible for Iran to build an atomic weapon, while at the same time allowing it to pursue a civil nuclear programme.
Iran, which insists its nuclear programme is only for civilian purposes, stepped up its activities after Trump withdrew from the agreement.
The latest International Atomic Energy Agency report said Iran had an estimated 274.8kg of uranium enriched to 60 per cent, nearing the weapons grade of 90 per cent.
Karim Bitar, a Middle East Studies lecturer at Sciences Po university in Paris, said the Iranian government’s very survival could be at stake.
“The one and only priority is the survival of the regime, and ideally, to get some oxygen, some sanctions relief, to get their economy going again, because the regime has become quite unpopular,” he said.


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Middle East

A 3D-printed miniature model of US President Donald Trump and the US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration from January 15. Photo: Reuters

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (right) shakes hands with Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi in Muscat, Oman, on Saturday. Photo: Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs/WANA via Reuters

Omani security personnel watch a convoy believed to be carrying US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff in Muscat, Oman, on Saturday. Photo: AP

US, Iran open decade-defining nuclear talks in Oman: ‘very, very important’

Iranian missiles are seen at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran. Photo: West Asian News Agency/Reuters

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (centre, left) visit an exhibition on Iran’s nuclear achievements on Wednesday. Photo: Iranian Presidency/Zuma Press Wire/dpa

US President Donald Trump meets Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) in the White House in February. Photo: AFP

Trump says US and Iran beginning direct talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme

US President Donald Trump, right, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Iran calls Trump’s direct talks on nuclear deal ‘meaningless’

A man repaints one of the famous anti-US murals in Tehran, Iran, on March 29. Photo: EPA-EFE

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Photo: AFP

World leaders urge Global South inclusion amid US-China tensions and Gaza conflict

The Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey discussed cooperation n in a new era of a fragmented world. Photo: Facebook/@ Antalya Diplomasi Forumu

Turkish Vice-President Cevdet Yilmaz stresses the importance of bilateral and regional diplomacy. Photo: Handout

Philemon Yang, president of the United Nations General Assembly, says the Global South should be allowed more representation at multilateral organisations. Photo: Handout 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemns Israel for its actions in the Gaza war. Photo: Handout

World leaders at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey urged for greater Global South inclusion and a two-state solution in Gaza. Photo: Facebook/@ Antalya Diplomasi Forumu

Palestinian Deputy Foreign Minister Omar Awadala calls on the international community to “stop this aggression” on his people. Photo: Handout

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets with Special Envoy Zhai Jun of the Chinese Government on the Middle East Issue. Photo: Palestinian President office

US moves B-2 bombers to Indian Ocean military base in message to Iran

B-2 bombers are equipped to carry the heaviest US bombs and nuclear weapons. Photo: Reuters

Four B-2 bomber planes on the tarmac of a military base on Diego Garcia island. Photo: Planet Labs PBC/AFP


News

World

Iran’s foreign minister briefly spoke face-to-face with the US president’s special envoy, and says discussions will resume next week


Iran’s foreign minister briefly spoke face-to-face with the US president’s special envoy, and says discussions will resume next week.
