Iran demands changes in venue for US talks
Parisa Hafezi and Humeyra Pamuk and Idrees Ali |
Iran is demanding that talks with the US this week be held in Oman not Turkey, and the scope be narrowed to two-way negotiations on nuclear issues only, adding new complications to an already delicate diplomatic effort.
Iran’s move to change the venue and agenda for the talks, scheduled for Friday in Istanbul, came amid heightened tensions as the US builds up forces in the Middle East.
Regional players have pushed for resolution of a standoff that has led to mutual threats of air strikes and stirred fears of escalation into a wider war.
The US military on Tuesday shot down an Iranian drone that “aggressively” approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, the US military said, in an incident first reported by Reuters.
President Donald Trump, who warned on Monday that “bad things” would probably happen if a deal could not be reached with Iran, told reporters at the White House on Tuesday: “We are negotiating with them right now”, but he didn’t elaborate and declined to say where he expected the talks to take place.
A regional diplomat with knowledge of Iran’s demands said Tehran was seeking to sought “to change the format, they want to change the scope”.
“They only want to discuss the nuclear file with the Americans while the US wants to include other topics such as the (ballistic) missiles and the activities of Iran’s proxies in the region.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that talks with Iran were still scheduled to take place later this week.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said consultations on the venue were still under way, Iranian Nour News reported later on Tuesday.
The spokesperson said planning has been carried out to hold the negotiations in the coming days and that Turkey, Oman and several other countries had expressed a readiness to host the meeting.
A source familiar with the situation said earlier on Tuesday that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was due to take part in the talks, along with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.
Ministers from several other countries in the region including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates had also been expected to attend, but the regional source told Reuters that Tehran now wanted only bilateral talks with the US.
The US naval buildup follows Iran’s violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrations last month.
Trump, who stopped short of carrying out threats to intervene, has since demanded nuclear concessions from Iran and sent a flotilla to its coast.
The priority of the diplomatic effort is to avoid conflict and de-escalate tension, a second regional official told Reuters earlier.
Iran’s leadership is increasingly worried a US strike could break its grip on power by driving an already enraged public back onto the streets, according to six current and former Iranian officials.
With tensions running high, an Iranian Shahed-139 drone flying toward the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier “with unclear intent” was shot down by an F-35 US fighter jet, the US military said.
Reuters