Nuclear talks in Oman: US and Iran without breakthrough
Muscat/Tehran. The fourth round of nuclear talks between the US and Iran in Oman ended without tangible results, but further talks are planned. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghai subsequently described the three-hour talks as "difficult but useful." He stated that both sides had strived to find rational and realistic ways to overcome their differences. A further round of negotiations is planned and will again be coordinated by Oman.
At the heart of the dispute over Iran's nuclear program is the question of its use: While Tehran emphasizes that it is pursuing exclusively civilian purposes, Western governments fear the development of a nuclear bomb. Iranian politicians and officers recently fueled the debate with calls for nuclear weapons as a military deterrent. US President Donald Trump recently threatened Iran with a bombing if there is no deal.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi were at the negotiating table; the Gulf state of Oman mediated. "The talks this time were much more serious than in the last few times, and also more open," Aragchi said. Technical compromises were possible, but not a complete abandonment of Iran's own uranium enrichment. He was confident that further progress would be made, he said, according to the ISNA news agency.
While Tehran repeatedly asserts that it does not seek its own nuclear weapons program, it categorically rejects the US demand to abandon its own civilian nuclear program—and especially its own uranium enrichment. Even before the negotiations, Aragchi had made it clear: "If it's only about the issue of nuclear weapons, we can allay the concerns, and then an agreement is certainly possible. But a ban on enrichment is non-negotiable."
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In 2015, after lengthy negotiations with China, Russia, the United States, France, Germany, and Great Britain, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program in the Vienna Nuclear Agreement. However, Trump unilaterally withdrew from the pact in 2018 and imposed new, tough sanctions. As a result, Tehran also stopped complying with the terms of the agreement. Now the US president wants a new deal.
Tehran has signaled a willingness to compromise and return to the technical restrictions of the 2015 nuclear agreement—but only if US sanctions are lifted. These have plunged the country into a historic financial crisis. Without the lifting of sanctions, economic chaos threatens, which could even lead to unrest in the long term.
In addition to the nuclear dispute, the negotiations also address Iran's Middle East policy, especially its self-proclaimed resistance axis against arch-enemy Israel and its missile program. Iran is still keeping quiet on these issues, but given the economic crisis, observers expect Tehran to make concessions here as well.
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