Iran, US to hold nuclear talks on Friday as Trump warns Tehran

February 4 ------ Iran and the United States will resume nuclear talks on Friday, February 6, in Turkey, Iranian and US officials told Reuters on Monday, and US President Donald Trump warned that with big US warships heading to Iran, bad things would probably happen if a deal could not be reached.

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will meet in Istanbul in an effort to revive diplomacy over a long-running dispute about Iran’s nuclear program and dispel fears of a new regional war, while a regional diplomat said representatives from countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt would also participate.

US naval buildup near Iran

Tensions are running high amid a US naval buildup near Iran, following a violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrations last month, the deadliest domestic unrest in Iran since its 1979 revolution. Trump, who stopped short of carrying out threats to intervene during the crackdown, has since demanded that Tehran make nuclear concessions and sent a flotilla to its coast. He said last week Iran was “seriously talking,” while Tehran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, said arrangements for negotiations were underway.

Asked on Monday about the prospect of a deal, Trump told reporters at the White Housethat  talks were happening. “We have ships heading to Iran right now, big ones — the biggest and the best — and we have talks going on with Iran, and we’ll see how it all works out…if we can work something out, that would be great, and if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.”

Iranian sources told Reuters last week that Trump had demanded three conditions for resumption of talks: Zero enrichment of uranium in Iran, limits on Tehran’s ballistic missile programme, and ending its support for regional proxies. Iran has long rejected all three demands as unacceptable infringements of its sovereignty, but two Iranian officials told Reuters its clerical rulers saw the ballistic missile program, rather than uranium enrichment, as the bigger obstacle.

Preparations for potential US-Iran talks

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran was considering “the various dimensions and aspects of the talks,” adding that “time is of the essence for Iran as it wants the lifting of unjust sanctions sooner.”

Turkey and other regional allies have sought de-escalation. “Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Egypt, as well as some other countries, will attend the Istanbul meeting. There will be bilateral, trilateral, and other meetings,” the diplomat said. A Turkish ruling-party official told Reuters that Tehran and Washington had agreed to re-focus on diplomacy and possible talks this week, in a potential reprieve for potential US strikes. Witkoff was expected to visit Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s military chief, two senior Israeli officials said separately on Monday.

‘Ball in Trump’s court’

The Iranian official said, “Diplomacy is ongoing. For talks to resume, Iran says there should not be preconditions and that it is ready to show flexibility on uranium enrichment, including handing over 400 kg of highly enriched uranium, accepting zero enrichment under a consortium arrangement as a solution. However, he added, for the start of talks, Tehran wanted U.S. military assets moved away from Iran. “Now the ball is in Trump’s court,” he said.

Source: rappler.com