Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponisation programme; it is imperative for the world that we create a tough, fair deal that will endure, and that is what President Trump has asked me to do, says U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff; Iran’s Khamenei says the talks are going ‘well’.
A second U.S. aircraft carrier is operating in West Asian waters ahead of the next round of talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme, satellite photos analysed on Tuesday by The Associated Press showed.
The operation of the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group in the Arabian Sea comes as suspected U.S. air strikes pounded parts of Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels overnight into Tuesday. American officials have repeatedly linked the U.S.’s month-long campaign against the Houthis under President Donald Trump as a means to pressure Iran in the negotiations.
Questions remain over where the weekend talks between the countries will be held after officials initially identified Rome as hosting the negotiations, only for Iran to insist early on Tuesday they would return to Oman.
The stakes of the negotiations couldn’t be higher for the two nations closing in on half a century of enmity. Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash air strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear programme if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.
But even Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reportedly described the first round of talks as going “well” while still couching his remarks Tuesday.
2015 nuclear deal
Mr. Trump’s envoy for ‘the Middle East’, Steve Witkoff, who represented America in last weekend’s talks in Oman, separately signalled that the Trump administration may be looking at terms of the 2015 nuclear deal that the president unilaterally withdrew from in 2018 as a basis for these negotiations. He described the talks last weekend as “positive, constructive, compelling. ”
“This is going to be much about verification on the enrichment program, and then ultimately verification on weaponisation,” Mr. Witkoff told Fox News on Monday night. “That includes missiles, the type of missiles that they have stockpiled there. And it includes the trigger for a bomb.” He added: “We’re here to see if we can solve this situation diplomatically and with dialogue.”
Late on Tuesday, Mr. Witkoff wrote on X that “a deal with Iran will only be completed if it is a Trump deal.”
“Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program,” he wrote. “It is imperative for the world that we create a tough, fair deal that will endure, and that is what President Trump has asked me to do.”
Satellite photos taken on Monday by the EU’s Copernicus programme showed the Vinson, which is based out of San Diego, California, operating northeast of Socotra, an island off Yemen that sits near the mouth of the Gulf of Aden. The Vinson is accompanied by the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Princeton and two Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, the USS Sterett and the USS William P. Lawrence.
The U.S. ordered the Vinson to the Mideast to back up the USS Harry S. Truman, which has been launching air strikes against the Houthis since the American campaign started March 15. Footage released by the Navy showed the Vinson preparing ordinance and launching F-35 and F/A-18 fighter jets off its deck in recent days.
‘24/7 strikes’
The U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, which oversees the Mideast, declined to discuss details of the Vinson’s operations. However, the U.S. military’s Central Command posted videos from the two carriers on the social platform X saying there had been “24/7 strikes” on the Houthis by the two carriers.
The Vinson’s arrival came as Mr. Khamenei, while speaking to high-ranking government officials in Tehran on Tuesday, endorsed the progress of the talks.
“We shouldn’t be overly optimistic about this dialogue, nor overly pessimistic,” Khamenei said. “The first steps have been taken well and executed properly. From here on, the process should be followed carefully. The red lines are clear — both for the other side and for us. We may or may not reach a result, but either way, it’s worth pursuing.”
He also urged officials “not to tie the country’s affairs” to the talks, which are scheduled to have a second round on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Mr. Witkoff offered for the first time a specific enrichment level he’d like to see for Iran’s nuclear programme. Today, Tehran enriches uranium to up to 60% — a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
“They do not need to enrich past 3.67%,” Mr. Witkoff told Fox News. “In some circumstances, they’re at 60%, in other circumstances, 20%. That cannot be. “And you do not need to run, as they claim, a civil nuclear programme where you’re enriching past 3.67%. So this is going to be much about verification on the enrichment programme, and then ultimately verification on weaponisation.”
The 2015 nuclear deal Iran agreed to with world powers under President Barack Obama saw Tehran agree to drastically reduce its stockpile of uranium and only enrich up to 3.67% — enough for its nuclear power plant at Bushehr. Iran in exchange received access to frozen funds around the world, and sanctions were lifted on its crucial oil industry and other sectors.
Iran relies on its ballistic missiles as a hedge against regional nations armed with advanced fighter jets and other American weaponry. Getting it to abandon its missile programe likely will be difficult in negotiations.
