MUSCAT: The United States and Iran started discussing details of a potential nuclear deal in Oman Saturday as they held their third round of talks in as many weeks.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are again leading the talks, which this time include a technical-level meeting between experts from both sides.
The discussions are aimed at striking a new deal that would stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons — an objective Tehran denies pursuing — in return for relief from crippling sanctions.
US President Donald Trump pulled out of an earlier multilateral nuclear deal during his first term in office.
Saturday’s talks were taking place in a “serious atmosphere,” Tehran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said, according to the Tasnim news agency.
Iran’s defense and missile capabilities were not on the agenda, Baqaei said separately to state TV, while an Iranian negotiator told Tasnim that the talks were “uniquely about sanctions and nuclear questions.”
Michael Anton, the State Department’s head of policy planning, leads the US expert-level delegation, while deputy foreign ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi will lead Tehran’s, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.
The talks started at around 10am (0600 GMT) with the delegations in separate rooms and communicating via the hosts, Baqaei said in a statement.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA said the talks may extend beyond Saturday, “given that the negotiations have entered technical and expert-level discussions and the examination of details.”
Araghchi earlier expressed “cautious optimism,” saying this week: “If the sole demand by the US is for Iran to not possess nuclear weapons, this demand is achievable.”
But if Washington had “impractical or illogical demands, we will naturally encounter problems,” he added.
The talks coincided with a major blast from unknown causes at Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port that injured hundreds of people and killed at least four, according to state media.
Before the talks, Trump, in an interview published Friday by Time magazine, reiterated his threat of military action if a deal fell through.
But he added that he “would much prefer a deal than bombs being dropped.” The talks began in Muscat a fortnight a go and continued in Rome last Saturday.
They are the highest-level engagement between the long-time foes since 2018, when Trump withdrew from the landmark 2015 accord that gave Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
Since returning to office, Trump has reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy of sanctions against Tehran.
In March, he wrote to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proposing talks, but also warning of potential military action if diplomacy failed.
On Tuesday, Washington announced new sanctions targeting Iran’s oil network — a move Tehran described as “hostile” ahead of Saturday’s talks.
Western nations, including the United States, have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
Tehran has consistently denied the charge, maintaining that its nuclear program is strictly for peaceful purposes.
On Wednesday, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi called on Iran to explain tunnels built near its Natanz nuclear site, seen in satellite imagery released by the Institute for Science and International Security.
The Washington-based think tank also noted construction of a new security perimeter.
In an interview released Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated Washington’s firm stance against Iran’s uranium enrichment.
“If Iran wants a civil nuclear program, they can have one just like many other countries in the world have one: and that is they import enriched material,” he said on the Honestly podcast.
Iran currently enriches uranium up to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent limit imposed by the 2015 deal but still below the 90 percent threshold required for weapons-grade material.
Araghchi has previously called Iran’s right to enrich uranium “non-negotiable.”
Tehran recently sought to reopen dialogue with Britain, France and Germany — also signatories to the 2015 deal — holding several rounds of nuclear talks ahead of the US meetings.
Last week, Rubio urged the three European states to decide whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 agreement, which would automatically reinstate UN sanctions on Iran over its non-compliance.
The option to use the mechanism expires in October.
Iran has warned that it could withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the snapback is triggered.
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Iran, US hold new round of high-stakes nuclear talks
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Iran, US hold new round of high-stakes nuclear talks
- A third round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States “may be extended,” Iranian state media reported Saturday, as negotiators were meeting in Oman
Khartoum markets back to life but ‘nothing like before’
- The hustle and bustle of buyers and sellers has returned to Khartoum’s central market, but “it’s nothing like before,” fruit vendor Hashim Mohamed told AFP, streets away from where war first broke out
KHARTOUM: The hustle and bustle of buyers and sellers has returned to Khartoum’s central market, but “it’s nothing like before,” fruit vendor Hashim Mohamed told AFP, streets away from where war first broke out nearly three years ago.
On April 15, 2023, central Khartoum awoke to battles between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who had been allies since 2021, when they ousted civilians from a short-lived transitional government.
Their war has since killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.
In greater Khartoum alone, nearly four million people — around half the population — fled the city when the RSF took over.
Hashim Mohamed did not.
“I had to work discreetly, because there were regular attacks” on businesses, said the fruit seller, who has worked in the sprawling market for 50 years.
Like him, those who stayed in the city reported having lived in constant fear of assaults and robberies from militiamen roaming the streets.
Last March, army forces led an offensive through the capital, pushing paramilitary fighters out and revealing the vast looting and destruction left behind.
“The market’s not what it used to be, but it’s much better than when the RSF was here,” said market vendor Adam Haddad, resting in the shade of an awning.
In the market’s narrow, dusty alleyways, fruits and vegetables are piled high on makeshift stalls or tarps spread on the ground.
Two jobs to survive
Khartoum, where entire neighborhoods have been damaged by the fighting, is no longer threatened by the mass starvation that stalks battlefield cities and displacement camps elsewhere in Sudan.
But with the economy a shambles, a good living is still hard to provide.
“People complain about prices, they say it’s too expensive. You can find everything, but the costs keep going up: supplies, labor, transportation,” said Mohamed.
Sudan has known only triple-digit annual inflation for years. Figures for 2024 stood at 151 percent — down from a 2021 peak of 358 percent.
The currency has also collapsed, going from trading at 570 Sudanese pounds to the US dollar before the war to 3,500 in 2026, according to the black market rate.
One Sudanese teacher, who only a few years ago could provide comfortably for his two children, told AFP he could no longer pay his rent with a monthly salary of 250,000 Sudanese pounds ($71).
To feed his family, pay for school and cover health care, he “works in the market or anywhere” on his days off.
“You have to have another job to pay for the bare minimum of basic needs,” he said, asking for anonymity to protect his privacy and to avoid “problems with security services.”
Beyond Khartoum, the war still rages, with the RSF in control of much of western and southern Sudan and pushing into the central Kordofan region.
For Adam Haddad, the road to recovery will be a long one.
“We don’t have enough resources or workers or liquidity going through the market,” he said, adding that reliable electricity was still a problem.
“The government is striving to restore everything, and God willing, in the near future, the power will return and Khartoum will become what it once was.”
On April 15, 2023, central Khartoum awoke to battles between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who had been allies since 2021, when they ousted civilians from a short-lived transitional government.
Their war has since killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.
In greater Khartoum alone, nearly four million people — around half the population — fled the city when the RSF took over.
Hashim Mohamed did not.
“I had to work discreetly, because there were regular attacks” on businesses, said the fruit seller, who has worked in the sprawling market for 50 years.
Like him, those who stayed in the city reported having lived in constant fear of assaults and robberies from militiamen roaming the streets.
Last March, army forces led an offensive through the capital, pushing paramilitary fighters out and revealing the vast looting and destruction left behind.
“The market’s not what it used to be, but it’s much better than when the RSF was here,” said market vendor Adam Haddad, resting in the shade of an awning.
In the market’s narrow, dusty alleyways, fruits and vegetables are piled high on makeshift stalls or tarps spread on the ground.
Two jobs to survive
Khartoum, where entire neighborhoods have been damaged by the fighting, is no longer threatened by the mass starvation that stalks battlefield cities and displacement camps elsewhere in Sudan.
But with the economy a shambles, a good living is still hard to provide.
“People complain about prices, they say it’s too expensive. You can find everything, but the costs keep going up: supplies, labor, transportation,” said Mohamed.
Sudan has known only triple-digit annual inflation for years. Figures for 2024 stood at 151 percent — down from a 2021 peak of 358 percent.
The currency has also collapsed, going from trading at 570 Sudanese pounds to the US dollar before the war to 3,500 in 2026, according to the black market rate.
One Sudanese teacher, who only a few years ago could provide comfortably for his two children, told AFP he could no longer pay his rent with a monthly salary of 250,000 Sudanese pounds ($71).
To feed his family, pay for school and cover health care, he “works in the market or anywhere” on his days off.
“You have to have another job to pay for the bare minimum of basic needs,” he said, asking for anonymity to protect his privacy and to avoid “problems with security services.”
Beyond Khartoum, the war still rages, with the RSF in control of much of western and southern Sudan and pushing into the central Kordofan region.
For Adam Haddad, the road to recovery will be a long one.
“We don’t have enough resources or workers or liquidity going through the market,” he said, adding that reliable electricity was still a problem.
“The government is striving to restore everything, and God willing, in the near future, the power will return and Khartoum will become what it once was.”
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