MUSCAT: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi prepared for fresh nuclear talks with the United States in Oman on Friday after apparent progress in previous rounds.
Araghchi flew into Muscat ahead of Saturday’s meeting with US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, their third encounter in as many weeks.
Araghchi will lead Iran’s delegation of diplomats and technical experts in indirect discussions with the US side, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X.
Iran’s top diplomat was a negotiator of the landmark nuclear accord abandoned by Trump during his first term in 2018.
Araghchi refused to discuss the talks as he signed copies of an Arabic translation of his book, “The Power of Negotiation” at a book fair in Muscat on Friday.
The latest round will include expert-level talks on Iran’s nuclear program, with Michael Anton, who serves as the State Department’s head of policy planning, leading the technical discussions on the US side, the department said.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that deputy foreign ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi will head the Iranian technical team.
Baqaei posted that Iran’s delegation is “resolved to secure our nation’s legitimate and lawful right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes while taking reasonable steps to demonstrate that our program is entirely peaceful.”
“Termination of unlawful and inhumane sanctions in an objective and speedy manner is a priority that we seek to achieve,” he added.
According to Baqaei, the dialogue will again be mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi — who appeared with Araghchi at the book signing — on Saturday morning.
The meeting follows two earlier rounds of Omani-mediated negotiations in Muscat and Rome starting on April 12.
Since his return to office in January, Trump has reimposed sweeping sanctions under his policy of “maximum pressure” against Tehran.
In March, he sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for talks but warning of possible military action if they failed to produce a deal.
Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons — an allegation Tehran has consistently denied, insisting that its program is for peaceful civilian purposes.
Baqaei earlier Friday said “progress in the negotiations requires the demonstration of goodwill, seriousness, and realism by the other side.”
Iran will treat Saturday’s talks seriously, Araghchi said in a recent interview, “and if the other party also enters seriously, there is potential for progress.”
In 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal signed three years earlier between Tehran and major world powers. The agreement eased sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
After Trump’s pullout, Tehran complied with the agreement for a year before scaling back its compliance.
Iran currently enriches uranium up to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent limit in the 2015 deal but still below the 90 percent threshold required for weapons-grade material.
In an interview published by Time Magazine on Friday, Trump said the United States will “lead the pack” in attacking Iran if nuclear talks do not lead to a new deal.
But he expressed hope that an agreement could be reached and said he would be willing to meet Khamenei.
Iran FM Araghchi in Oman ahead of nuclear talks with US
https://arab.news/jnmch
Iran FM Araghchi in Oman ahead of nuclear talks with US
- Abbas Araghchi will be leading a diplomatic and technical-expert delegation for indirect discussions with the US side
- President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will represent the United States in the talks
Syria’s Sharaa calls for united efforts to rebuild a year after Assad’s ouster
- Sharaa’s Islamist-led alliance launched a lightning offensive in late November last year, taking the capital Damascus on December 8
DAMASCUS: President Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Monday urged Syrians to work together to rebuild their country, still marred by insecurity and divisions, as they marked a year since the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar Assad.
The atmosphere in Damascus was jubilant as thousands of people took to the streets of the capital, AFP correspondents said, after mosques in the Old City began the day broadcasting celebratory prayers at dawn.
“What happened over the past year seems like a miracle,” said Iyad Burghol, 44, a doctor, citing developments including a warm welcome in Washington by President Donald Trump for Sharaa, a former jihadist who once had a US bounty on his head.
“People are demanding electricity, lower prices and higher salaries” after years of war and economic crisis, Burghol said.
“But the most important thing to me is civil peace, security and safety,” he added, taking a photo of people carrying a huge Syrian flag and sending it to his friends abroad.
Sharaa’s Islamist-led alliance launched a lightning offensive in late November last year, taking the capital Damascus on December 8 after nearly 14 years of war and putting an end to more than five decades of the Assad family’s iron-fisted rule.
Since then Sharaa has managed to restore Syria’s international standing and has won sanctions relief, but he faces major challenges in guaranteeing security, rebuilding crumbling institutions, regaining Syrians’ trust and keeping his fractured country united.
“The current phase requires the unification of efforts by all citizens to build a strong Syria, consolidate its stability, safeguard its sovereignty, and achieve a future befitting the sacrifices of its people,” Sharaa said following dawn prayers at Damascus’s famous Umayyad Mosque.
He was wearing military garb as he did when he entered the capital a year ago.
‘Heal deep divisions’
As part of the celebrations in Damascus, hundreds of military personnel marched down a major thoroughfare as helicopters flew overhead and people lined the streets to watch.
Sharaa and several ministers were in attendance, state media reported.
Monday’s events, including an expected speech by Sharaa, are the culmination of celebrations that began last month as Syrians began marking the start of last year’s lightning offensive.
Multi-confessional Syria’s fragile transition has been shaken this year by sectarian bloodshed in the country’s Alawite and Druze minority heartlands, alongside ongoing Israeli military operations.
In a statement, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “what lies ahead is far more than a political transition; it is the chance to rebuild shattered communities and heal deep divisions.”
“It is an opportunity to forge a nation where every Syrian — regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or political affiliation — can live securely, equally, and with dignity,” he said in the statement, urging international support.
On Sunday, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which investigates international human rights law violations since the start of the war, warned the country’s transition was fragile and said that “cycles of vengeance and reprisal must be brought to an end.”
The US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that control swathes of northeast Syria said Monday that “the next phase requires launching a real, inclusive dialogue... and establishing a new social contract that guarantees rights, freedoms and equality.”
The Kurdish administration in the northeast has announced a ban on public gatherings on Monday, citing security concerns, while also banning gunfire and fireworks.
Under a March deal, the Kurdish administration was to integrate its institutions into the central government by year-end, but progress has stalled.
On Saturday, a prominent Alawite spiritual leader in Syria urged members of his religious minority, to which the Assad family also belongs, to boycott the celebrations, in protest against the “oppressive” new authorities.
