A third round of talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear activities was planned for Saturday, raising hopes for a new accord that could avert another conflict in the Middle East.
“I think we’re going to make a deal with Iran. Nobody else could do that,” President Trump said in an interview with Time magazine published on Friday. Mr. Trump abandoned a previous nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 during his first term, saying it was a flawed agreement.
The talks have the potential to reshape regional and global security by reducing the chance of a U.S.-backed Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities and preventing Iran from producing a nuclear weapon. A deal could also transform Iran’s economic and political landscape by easing American sanctions and opening the country up to foreign investors.
Here’s what you need to know:
- What’s happening on Saturday?
- What’s at stake?
- What happened in previous talks?
- What are the sticking points?
- How did we get here?
- What comes next?
What’s happening on Saturday?
Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy; Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister; and teams of technical experts from both sides will meet in the Gulf sultanate of Oman, which is mediating the talks.
This round will include the nuts-and-bolts “expert talks,” which bring together nuclear and financial teams from both sides to hash out technical details. These could include issues such as the monitoring of Iran’s nuclear facilities, its uranium enrichment levels and what will happen to its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, along with easing sanctions.