US and Iranian negotiators to meet for crunch nuclear talks – Middle East live | Middle East and north Africa
important events
Patrick Wintour
It appears that the US has a special envoy. Steve WitkoffHe will go to Geneva with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushnerhe just wanted Iran Accept enrichment with purity below 5%roughly the level agreed in the 2015 nuclear deal and well below weapons level.
A source in contact with Iran’s negotiating team said members I’m surprised at the loose terms of the offer It was presented as a first step by Kushner and Witkoff last week. According to this source, the main demand was that Iran agree to limit enrichment to 5 percent and convert the program to civilian use.
However, in response, the source said: No proposals for immediate sanctions relief or diplomatic relations: Iran would remain economically handcuffed. Still, the next step will be negotiations to gradually ease sanctions and start a dialogue, the source said.
Iran says UN nuclear watchdog chief will attend talks
Rafael GrossiThe director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will likely attend the talks, Iranian media reported, citing a statement from Iran’s foreign ministry.
Grossi attended the second round of US-Iran talks earlier this month and met directly with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi. The meeting was an important step after Iran suspended all cooperation with the IAEA following a 12-day war with Israel in June.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog said it had been unable to verify the status of Iran’s near-weapons-grade uranium stockpile since the war. Iran allowed the IAEA access to some undamaged sites but did not allow inspectors to visit other sites.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi met with Omani foreign minister Badr Albusaidi in Geneva last night. Albusaidi is expected to meet with the US negotiating team this morning
Opening summary
Hello, welcome to the live broadcast of the US-Iran talks.
Iran and US negotiators will meet today in Geneva, Switzerland for the third round of indirect nuclear negotiations Negotiations will be held under the mediation of Oman A. Massive buildup of US warships and aircraft in the Middle East Pressuring Iran to make a deal.
This is the third meeting between the USA and Iran Since June last year, when Israel launched attacks against Iran, leading to a war marked by tit-for-tat airstrikes.
Before today’s talks, the Iranian president said, Massoud PezeshkianIran’s religious leader said: Ali Khameneihas banned weapons of mass destruction, which “clearly means that Tehran will not develop nuclear weapons.” Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters in Iran, is thought to have issued a fatwa – or religious edict – sometime before or in 2005 banning Iran from using weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons.
President of the United States in his State of the Union address on Tuesday Donald Trump He accused Iran of trying to rebuild its nuclear weapons program, but gave no clear indication of his intentions for a possible military strike on Tehran. But he said he wanted to resolve the tension diplomatically.
Iran has maintained that it will continue to enrich uranium, a component of nuclear weapons, for peaceful purposes and has long maintained that enriching uranium is a sovereign right.
Iran has threatened to retaliate in kind if the United States launches an attack, saying it will also attack Israel.
“There will be no victory for anyone, it will be a devastating war,” Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told India Today before flying to Geneva.
You can read our diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour’s preview of the talks here:
