U.S. officials have contacted Omani officials to consider resuming mediated U.S.-Iran nuclear talks. Israeli officials have accused the Americans of seeking an interim deal that would allow Iran to continue its uranium enrichment program.
This is reported Axios.
The report comes about nine months after the collapse of indirect talks aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the international community. The US has said that talks are not a top priority.
However, US President Joe Biden’s senior official in charge of matters related to Iran said on Tuesday that the US is trying to find a diplomatic solution again to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear program. Israel claims that this nuclear program poses a real military threat.
“We hope that we can solve this problem through diplomatic means, and we are ready to go that way.” stated Robert Malley to National Public Radio.
According to Axios, Biden’s special envoy for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, made a secret visit to Muscat, Oman, in early May while in the region for announced trips to Israel and Saudi Arabia. He was in the region as part of his trip, which includes visits to Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Israeli officials cited in the article expressed concern that Washington is considering negotiating an interim agreement aimed at reducing regional tensions but that could leave some aspects of nuclear enrichment unchanged. According to an Israeli official, the Americans “want a temporary break.” At the same time, the US has previously repeatedly denied the possibility of concluding such an agreement, noting that in the country “there is no discussion of an interim agreement, the lifting of sanctions or the closing of cases under guarantees.”
The day before, it became known that on Sunday, the Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, arrived in Tehran for a two-day visit, which became the first in the last ten years for the leader of Oman in the Iranian capital. The visit comes as Iran works to resolve regional conflicts that have dogged the region for the past decade, rebuilds ties with Saudi Arabia and other countries, and expresses support for full diplomatic relations with Egypt for the first time since 1979.
Concerns about a possible interim deal will be discussed during a visit by National Security Adviser Tzahi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Secretary Ron Dermer to Washington this week, according to information provided by Axios. Later on Tuesday, Hanegbi said he had no information about the preparation of a new deal and predicted that the United States would not make a new deal with Iran.
Previously, Cursor also published a statement by retired General Amos Gilad, former head of the Security and Policy Department at the Israeli Ministry of Defense and current head of the Institute of Politics and Strategy at the Reichmann University in Herzliya, about the growing threat of Iran’s Shiite axis and readiness aggressive events of the leader.
