TEHRAN, Apr 16 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran has confirmed that Muscat, the capital of Oman, will remain the venue for the second round of “indirect” negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
“Following consultations, it was decided that Muscat continues to be the host of the second round of the negotiations, which are scheduled to be held on Saturday,” the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, as saying, yesterday.
In the first round of the Muscat talks last Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, engaged in “indirect” discussions with U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, facilitated by Omani Foreign Minister, Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi. These talks focused on Iran’s nuclear programme and the potential removal of U.S. sanctions.
The talks in Muscat followed U.S. President, Donald Trump’s statement in early March that, he had sent a letter to Iranian leaders, delivered through the United Arab Emirates, proposing negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran later agreed on indirect talks.
Iran signed a nuclear deal in July, 2015 with six major countries – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. Under the deal, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
However, Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of the deal in May, 2018, during his first term, and reimposed sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to scale back its commitments under the deal. Since then, efforts to revive the nuclear agreement have made little progress.– NNN-IRNA
