Iran and the United States have agreed to hold another round of negotiations next week, following preliminary talks in the Omani capital, Muscat.
The Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday that the first round of the talks in Muscat had been held in “a constructive atmosphere and based on mutual respect.”
Top negotiators from Iran and the U.S. had exchanged the viewpoints of their respective governments with regards to the Iranian nuclear program and the removal of sanctions on the Islamic Republic via Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, the Foreign Ministry said.
The sides agreed to continue the talks next week, it added, without offering an exact timetable.
Axios Website quoted a US official as saying that Trump is ready to make concessions in order to reach an agreement with Iran.
Araqchi, Witkoff meet in person
The Ministry said that, after more than two hours of indirect talks, Iran’s and the U.S.’s top negotiators, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Steve Witkoff respectively, had met as they were leaving the venue of the talks and chatted for a few minutes in the presence of Al Busaidi. Witkoff is U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy for the Middle East.
The Saturday talks, the first in years, came after Trump wrote to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, requesting that negotiations be opened into a deal between Tehran and Washington. Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from a previous agreement with Iran in 2018.
Iran said it was giving diplomacy a “genuine chance” if the American side demonstrates resolve and goodwill. It viewed the preliminary talks on Saturday as an opportunity to ascertain whether the United States was serious about diplomacy.
The foreign minister of Iran had informed his Omani counterpart about Tehran’s stances on talks with the US delegation in Muscat.
Source: Iranian media
