US and Iran Wrap Up Third Round of Nuclear Talks, Plan Fourth Session
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<p>The third set of discussions focused on limiting Iran's capacity to develop nuclear weapons entailed technical deliberations concerning the specifics of a potential agreement.</p>
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<p>Experts from both the United States and Iran engaged in their initial technical conversations regarding the future direction of Iran's nuclear program.</p>
<p>These talks took place in Muscat, the capital of Oman, following two significant meetings between U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in the weeks prior.</p>
<div class="my-5">Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who facilitated the earlier discussions in both Muscat and Rome, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-nuclear-talks-oman-f2e4ecf49c62c11a0240153d7f900d0d" target="_blank" class="article-hover-class">stated</a> that both Iran and the United States “identified a common goal to attain an agreement grounded in mutual respect and lasting commitments.”</div>
<p>“Fundamental principles, goals, and technical issues were all explored,” al-Busaidi commented on social media, indicating that a subsequent round of high-level discussions was tentatively arranged for May 3.</p>
<div class="my-5">In contrast to <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/us-and-iran-conclude-second-round-of-nuclear-talks-agree-to-third-5844380" target="_blank" class="article-hover-class">prior negotiations</a>, where Witkoff and Araghchi communicated indirectly while outlining their broader positions, the talks held on April 26 incorporated a technical aspect aimed at addressing the realities of curbing Iran's nuclear activities.</div>
<p>Alongside Witkoff and Araghchi, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-e Ravanchi represented Tehran's expert team, while State Department policy director Michael Anton represented the U.S. side.</p>
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<div class="my-5">President Donald Trump has prioritized stopping Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon as a key aspect of his foreign policy, expressing <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/rubio-says-iran-can-have-a-civilian-nuclear-program-but-must-give-up-uranium-enrichment-5846445" target="_blank" class="article-hover-class">a willingness</a> to allow Iran to maintain its nuclear power facilities provided it halts uranium enrichment and refrains from pursuing nuclear weapons.</div>
<p>Iran has historically claimed that its nuclear ambitions are solely for peaceful purposes, yet in recent years, it has hinted at the possibility of developing a nuclear weapon without making a definitive choice.</p>
<div class="my-5">Since 2018, the Middle Eastern nation has significantly increased its uranium enrichment activities, coming in the wake of Trump's unilateral withdrawal from a bilateral nuclear deal that had limited such actions. During that period, Trump <a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-ending-united-states-participation-unacceptable-iran-deal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="article-hover-class">criticized</a> the agreement as “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered” and argued it “provided the Iranian regime with too much for too little in return.”</div>
<div class="my-5">U.S. intelligence officials have <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/only-a-matter-of-weeks-before-iran-could-be-able-to-manufacture-nuclear-weapons-cia-chief-5088168" target="_blank" class="article-hover-class">indicated</a> for years that if Iran decided to pursue a nuclear arsenal, it could do so in a matter of weeks.</div>
<p>A report from the United Nations’ nuclear oversight body released in early 2025 suggested that Iran had accelerated its enriched uranium production to a level that could enable it to generate around six nuclear warheads if it chose to pursue that path.</p>
<p>Trump has suggested that the ongoing negotiations with Tehran represent a last-ditch effort to prevent full-scale conflict, stating that he would consider bombing Iran if it does not rein in its nuclear pursuits.</p>
<p>“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing, and it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before,” Trump mentioned in a social media post on March 30.</p>
<p>The duration of the negotiations remains uncertain, with one focal point likely being the Tehran Research Reactor.</p>
<p>Iranian authorities began enriching uranium in 2010 to supply fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor, a facility provided to Iran by the United States during the 1960s for research purposes.</p>
<p>The reactor was originally designed to operate for 25 years, but Iran modified it to function on low-enriched uranium with the assistance of international partners. When Iran's access to low-enriched uranium dwindled in the late 2000s, Tehran opted to produce its own highly-enriched uranium for fuel and permanently shifted its path.</p>
<p>Once a close ally of the United States in the Middle East, Iran was known for purchasing American-made weapons and was perceived by U.S. leaders as an authoritarian yet modernizing power that countered the spread of communism.</p>
<p>This relationship disintegrated in 1979 when Iran’s monarch fled and Islamist factions rose to power. Since then, the Islamic Republic of Iran has opposed the secular modernism associated with the United States, advocating for the destruction of both Israel and the U.S.</p>
<p>In recent years, tensions between Washington and Tehran have escalated to near-breaking points, partially due to Iran's financial and military backing of terrorist groups like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen.</p>
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