By Janet Ekstract, ISTANBUL – Friday, February 6 will see a major diplomatic gathering in Istanbul to resume negotiations between Iran and the U.S. on Iran’s nuclear program. Turkish officials had offered to play a major diplomatic role in hosting the gathering and according to Reuters, it will include U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi along with representatives from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and other countries as well. The goal behind the gathering is to prevent the very real possibility of a military conflict in the region, which Turkish, Iranian officials and other regional powers have sought to avert. The gathering will include bilateral, trilateral and additional multilateral meetings between all parties.
The gathering is the result of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to Iran over massive deadly protests in Iran as well as Iran’s nuclear program. As Trump moved what he called his “armada” to the Iranian coast, Iran began the process of what Trump called “seriously talking” while Iran’s top security official Ali Larjani confirmed the arrangements for negotiations were ongoing. Last week, Iranian sources told Reuters that Trump underscored three conditions for resuning talks with Iran. The first is a complete cessation of uranium enrichment in Iran, restrictions on Tehran’s ballistic missle program and an end to Iranian support for regional proxy forces. Iran has been consistent in rejecting all three demands as violations of its sovereignty. But two Iranian officials did indicate that Tehran’s clerical leadership views the ballistic missile program rather than uranium enrichment as the ore significant obstacle to reaching an agreement.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the government is evaluating “the various dimensions and aspects of the talks,” while stressing that “time is of the essence for Iran as it wants the lifting of unjust sanctions sooner.” An Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran is prepared to demonstrate flexibility on uranium enrichment, including transferring 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium out of the country and accepting zero enrichment under a consortium arrangement. But the official said Iran opposes preconditions for talks and wants U.S. military assets withdrawn from the region before negotiations begin. A Turkish ruling party official said that Tehran and Washington did agree to prioritize diplomacy and talks this week. Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to meet Israeli PM Netanyahu and Israeli military leadership, according to two senior Israeli officials.
