US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at a news conference in Bratislava, said President Donald Trump had made it clear that he would prefer diplomacy and a negotiated settlement, while also making it clear that this may not happen.
“No one’s ever been able to do a successful deal with Iran, but we’re going to try,” Rubio said.Iran has threatened to strike US bases in the Middle East if US forces attack it, but on Sunday took a conciliatory line.
“For the sake of an agreement’s durability, it is essential that the US also benefits in areas with high and quick economic returns,” foreign ministry deputy director for economic diplomacy Hamid Ghanbari said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
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“Common interests in the oil and gas fields, joint fields, mining investments, and even aircraft purchases are included in the negotiations,” Ghanbari said, arguing that the 2015 nuclear pact with world powers had not secured US economic interests.
In 2018, Trump withdrew the US from the pact that had eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme and reapplied tough economic sanctions on Tehran.
On Friday, a source told Reuters that a US delegation, including envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, would meet Iranian officials in Geneva on Tuesday, a meeting later confirmed to Reuters by a senior Iranian official on Sunday.
“Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be travelling; I think they are travelling right now to have important meetings, and we’ll see how that turns out,” Rubio said, without providing further details.While talks leading to the 2015 nuclear pact were multilateral, the current negotiations are confined to Iran and the United States, with Oman acting as mediator.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi left Tehran for Geneva to take part in the indirect nuclear talks with the US and meet the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, and others, his ministry said.
In 2018, Trump withdrew the US from the pact that had eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme and reapplied tough economic sanctions on Tehran.
OPEN TO COMPROMISE
Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi signalled Iran’s readiness to compromise on its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief, telling the BBC on Sunday that the ball was “in America’s court to prove that they want to do a deal.”
The senior official referred to the Iranian atomic chief’s statement on Monday that the country could agree to dilute its most highly enriched uranium in exchange for the lifting of sanctions as an example of Iran’s flexibility.
However, he reiterated that Tehran would not accept zero uranium enrichment, a key sticking point in past negotiations, with Washington viewing enrichment inside Iran as a potential pathway to nuclear weapons. Iran denies seeking such weapons. In June, the US joined Israel in a series of air strikes that targeted Iranian nuclear sites.
The US is also stepping up economic pressure on Iran. At a White House meeting earlier this week, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed that the US would work to reduce Iran’s oil exports to China, Axios reported on Saturday.
China accounts for more than 80% of Iran’s oil exports, so any reduction in that trade would significantly lower Iran’s oil revenue.
