President Trump told reporters Sunday that an agreement with Iran was imminent and that new negotiations were set to begin Monday, though an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson pushed back the next day, saying Tehran would not be hosting any delegation or serving as host to another country in the coming days, says Al Jazeera.
Returning to Washington from a weekend trip to New Jersey, Trump told reporters that talks would start Monday after he called off what he described as planned massive strikes on Iran.
The US President offered no details about where the talks would take place or who would be involved, and declined to answer when asked whether there was a deadline for reaching a deal, saying instead that he would rather make an agreement than see people die, adding that a lot of people die in conflict and that’s not something he wants.
On Monday, Trump reiterated that the planned attack on Iran would have been the biggest since World War II, but said he had chosen to call it off, describing a deal as imminent involving the Strait of Hormuz and, ultimately, Iran’s denuclearization.
Read more about this topic: Trump says new talks with Iran start Monday. He’s holding off a joint attack with Israel to make room for it
Just before Trump’s announcement, mediators were preparing to travel to Tehran for an indirect negotiating session, with talks likely focusing first on the ongoing discussions between Iran and Oman regarding control of the Strait of Hormuz.
The President of the USA said Pakistan’s interior minister and Qatari officials in particular were expected to send emissaries to help move the process forward quickly, though specific details remained unclear.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday that Iran would not be hosting a delegation or serving as host to any country during this period, though it remained unclear whether he was referring solely to direct talks, potentially leaving room for indirect negotiations through mediators.
Iran is indeed in talks with Oman, with discussions centered on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and identifying ways to achieve that, describing the process as strictly bilateral and stating that Iran is rejecting any foreign intervention in the matter.
Read more about this topic: Trump calls the disarmament deal historic. Hamas says its own compliance depends entirely on Israel’s (with video)
Skepticism remains high among analysts regarding how close an actual deal might be.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told Al Jazeera that Trump’s repeated pattern of escalating and then canceling attacks on Iran has damaged prospects for a negotiated resolution, calling the cycle tiresome and warning that continued repetition risks eroding the credibility of negotiations altogether, including doubts over whether any agreement would actually be honored or whether threats and incentives carry any real weight.
Alan Eyre, a distinguished diplomatic fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said the only negotiations currently carrying real significance are those between Iran and Oman regarding the Strait of Hormuz.
Eyre said Iran has essentially concluded that direct talks with the U.S. aren’t worthwhile because Tehran can’t rely on anything Washington says, noting that Trump has repeatedly threatened to annihilate Iran only to back down at the last moment, and expressed strong doubt that genuine progress is being made on either the nuclear issue or Hormuz.
Read more about this topic: Iran fired missiles at a U.S. base in Jordan, its first attack since Trump paused strikes. All were intercepted, but the pause may not survive it
Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, offered a more nuanced view, saying he believes a narrower framework for reopening the Strait of Hormuz could realistically be achieved, but that a broader peace agreement addressing Iran’s nuclear program and other outstanding issues remains far more distant, if attainable at all.
On the Hormuz talks specifically, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that negotiations between Tehran and Oman over the strait’s future management had entered their final stages, according to Iran’s IRNA news agency. The waterway, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies passed before the U.S.-Israel war against Iran began, has become the most urgent item on the negotiating agenda.
Iran effectively closed the strait in early March after U.S. and Israeli airstrikes began on February 28, allowing only limited shipping through until signing a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. on June 17. Vague language in that agreement later sparked disputes over which shipping routes vessels should follow, and Iran subsequently attacked several ships using an Oman-approved route through the strait’s southern section.
The strait was closed again last week, prompting the U.S. to resume its naval blockade of Iranian ports.
Read more about this topic: Trump accuses Netanyahu of trying to keep US at war with Iran
Oman, backed by other Gulf nations, presented a proposal last week for the strait’s future management, which Iran rejected while offering counterproposals. Iranian state media reported Sunday that Araghchi had spoken by phone with Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Pakistan’s military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, to discuss diplomatic efforts toward resolving the crisis.
Baghaei said the negotiations center on agreeing to a new shipping route through the strait, adding that talks with Oman have been ongoing for roughly seven to eight days, with some progress achieved, alongside separate discussions involving officials from both the region and beyond.
As for why Trump paused the planned strikes, he told reporters Monday that he called off the major attack Friday at the request of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which had urged him to hold back and pursue a negotiated deal instead.
Oil prices dropped sharply following the announcement, with Brent crude futures falling more than $4 a barrel, or 4.64%, to $83.85 late Sunday, while West Texas Intermediate crude fell a similar amount to $80.66, according to Reuters.
Read more about this topic: Trump threatens to bomb Iranian bridges and power plants over ship attacks
Despite the pause, U.S. officials have made clear they remain prepared to resume military action. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Trump’s claim that the Pentagon stands ready to strike Iran at levels not seen since World War II, adding in a Monday social media post that the U.S. remains locked and loaded.
