Iranian officials expressed hope for progress toward reaching a deal to avoid renewed conflict when talks with US negotiators resume on Thursday, despite the massive build-up of US military power in the Middle East.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, speaking to CBS News on Sunday, said details of the potential agreement were being worked out before talks on Tehran’s nuclear program resumed, while Washington envoy Steve Witkoff pondered why Tehran had not “surrendered” yet.
Badr Al Busaidi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman and the regional mediator, said that the talks will resume on Thursday in Geneva “with a positive push to make an additional effort towards finalizing the agreement.”
US threats of military action have doubled since a nationwide protest movement in Iran sparked a crackdown that human rights groups say has killed thousands. On Sunday, Iranian students held competing pro- and anti-government protests, with critics of the religious leadership at risk of arrest or worse if arrested.
“If the United States attacks us, we have every right to defend ourselves,” Araqchi said, referring to American interests in the region as potential targets.
However, he added, “there is a good chance of reaching a diplomatic solution.”
In a social media post, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also said that previous talks “gave encouraging signs.”
After a recent round of discussions in Geneva, Iran said it was preparing a draft proposal for an agreement that would avoid military action.
“I think when we meet, perhaps this Thursday in Geneva again, we can work on these elements, prepare a good text and reach an agreement quickly,” Araqchi told CBS.
Axios had previously reported, citing an unnamed senior American official, that if Iran presents its proposal within the next 48 hours, Washington is ready to meet again later in the week “to begin detailed negotiations.”
The United States has sent two aircraft carriers to the Middle East in recent weeks, along with other aircraft and ships, and has strengthened its air defenses in the region to support its threats of military intervention.
US President Donald Trump’s chief negotiator in the Middle East, Witkoff, said on Saturday, in an interview with Fox News, that the president wonders why Iran has not yielded to pressure yet.
He added: “He is curious to know why they did not surrender… I don’t want to use the word ‘surrender’, but why they did not surrender.”
Why didn’t they come to us and say: We declare that we do not want weapons, and this is what we are prepared to do?
Western governments fear that Iran’s nuclear program aims to develop a nuclear bomb, something Tehran has long denied, although it insists on its right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes.
Regarding the issue of uranium enrichment, Araqchi said on Sunday that Iran “has every right to make the decision itself.”
– Fears of war –
A previous round of diplomatic efforts was halted last year due to Israel’s bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic.
This led to a 12-day conflict last June, and the United States briefly joined strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Despite the recent Oman-brokered talks, Iranians’ fears of a new conflict have increased.
“I don’t sleep well at night, even while taking pills,” Tehran resident Hamid told AFP.
IT technician Mina Ahmadvand (46 years old) believes that “at this stage, war between Iran and the United States as well as Israel is inevitable.”
“I don’t want war to break out, but one should not manipulate the facts on the ground.”
These concerns have prompted several foreign countries to urge their citizens to leave Iran, including Sweden, Serbia, Poland and Australia.
– Protests –
Iran has previously said that reaching a deal quickly is in its interest if it means easing sanctions that have crippled its economy, and which contributed to protests late last year over rising costs of living.
Those demonstrations quickly expanded into mass anti-government protests, which posed one of the biggest challenges to the Islamic Republic’s leadership in years, leading to a deadly crackdown by authorities that left thousands dead, according to human rights groups.
Iranian students gathered on Sunday in new pro- and anti-government marches to commemorate the dead after similar gatherings the day before.
Local and expatriate media reported demonstrations at several universities in Tehran, with some participants waving the flag of Iran’s deposed monarchy, and others chanting “Death to the Shah,” who was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Trump had initially welcomed the protesters and threatened to intervene on their behalf amid the crackdown, but his threats quickly turned to the Iranian nuclear program.
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