Khamenei adviser: Tehran 'seeking a real and fair agreement'

US signals openness to compromise in Iran talks: ‘Red line’ is nuclear weaponization

Trump says he ‘wants Iran to be a wonderful, great, happy country. But they can’t have a nuclear weapon’; Witkoff says Saturday meeting in Oman with Iranian FM ‘about trust building’

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, pictured in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025; Steve Witkoff, right, White House special envoy, pictured in Washington, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photos Stringer, Mark Schiefelbein)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, pictured in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025; Steve Witkoff, right, White House special envoy, pictured in Washington, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photos Stringer, Mark Schiefelbein)

The United States on Friday signaled a willingness to compromise ahead of high-stakes weekend talks with Iran, while insisting that Tehran cannot have a nuclear weapon, as the Islamic Republic claimed it seeks a “real and fair” agreement on its nuclear program.

The longtime adversaries are set to meet on Saturday in Oman, weeks after a letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by US President Donald Trump, who sought diplomacy but warned of possible military action if Iran refuses.

“Far from putting up a show and merely talking in front of the cameras, Tehran is seeking a real and fair agreement, important and implementable proposals are ready,” Khamenei adviser Ali Shamkhani posted on X.

He confirmed that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was heading to Oman “with full authority for indirect negotiations with America,” adding that if Washington showed goodwill, the path forward would be “smooth.”

Ahead of the talks, Trump reiterated his opposition to Iran gaining a nuclear weapon.

“I want Iran to be a wonderful, great, happy country. But they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, hours before his envoy Steve Witkoff was due to meet Araghchi.

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One, en route to Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on April 11, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)

Witkoff, Trump’s friend who serves as his globe-trotting envoy, sounded a note of flexibility ahead of the talks.

Witkoff told The Wall Street Journal that “our position today” starts with demanding that Iran completely dismantle its nuclear program — a view of hardliners around Trump that few expect Iran would ever accept.

“That doesn’t mean, by the way, that at the margin we’re not going to find other ways to find compromise between the two countries,” Witkoff told the newspaper.

“Where our red line will be, there can’t be weaponization of your nuclear capability,” Witkoff added, stressing any deal must include extensive oversight measures to guarantee Iran is not developing an atomic weapon.

Earlier, Trump’s press secretary told reporters that the US president wanted Iran to know that “all options are on the table” for preventing it from developing nuclear weapons.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s “ultimate objective is to ensure that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon” and that Trump believes in diplomacy.

“But he’s made it very clear to the Iranians and his national security team will as well, that all options are on the table, and Iran has a choice to make. You can agree to President Trump’s demand, or there will be all hell to pay, and that’s how the president feels. He feels very strongly about it,” she said

Leavitt insisted that the talks with Iran will be direct — something Tehran has denied. In the Wall Street Journal interview, Witkoff said he hoped to resolve this matter and “set the parameters” for further negotiations.

Witkoff added that Saturday’s meeting “is about trust building. It is about talking about why it is so important for us to get to a deal, not the exact terms of the deal.” He will be joined in the talks by nuclear experts at the US State Department, according to the Axios news site.

Steve Witkoff, White House special envoy for the Middle East, speaks with reporters at the White House, March 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Alex Brandon)

Former US president Barack Obama negotiated a deal in 2015 that sought to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon without insisting on full dismantlement of its contested program.

Trump denounced the agreement as too weak and ripped it up after taking office the first time, instead imposing sweeping sanctions on Iran’s oil sector.

Tehran adhered to the deal for a year before rolling back its own commitments.

‘Hostile rhetoric’

Ahead of the talks, Trump reiterated that military action was “absolutely” possible if they failed.

Iran responded by saying Tehran could expel United Nations nuclear inspectors, prompting in turn a US warning that this would be an “escalation.”

Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

On Friday, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran was “giving diplomacy a genuine chance in good faith and full vigilance.”

“America should appreciate this decision, which was made despite their hostile rhetoric,” he said.

On Thursday, Washington imposed additional sanctions on Iran, targeting its oil network and nuclear program.

A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency shows President Masoud Pezeshkian (C) and the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) chief Mohammad Eslami (R) during the “National Day of Nuclear Technology,” in Tehran, on April 9, 2025. (Iranian Presidency/AFP)

Iran’s nuclear agency chief Mohammad Eslami downplayed their impact.

“They applied maximum pressure with various sanctions, but they were unable to prevent the country from progressing,” he said.

“They still think that they can stop this nation and country with threats and intimidation, psychological operations, or stupid actions.”

Ahead of the Oman talks, Witkoff — who has also been seeking to end the Ukraine war — visited Russia, which has close cooperation with Iran.

The European Union, which backed the Obama-era accord, said Friday that there was “no alternative to diplomacy” on the Iranian nuclear issue.

Changed regional climate

Trump announced the talks Monday during a visit to Washington by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has warned that military action will be “inevitable” if diplomacy drags on.

Iran last year twice launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, in the Islamic Republic’s first-ever direct attacks on Israel, amid the war in Gaza triggered by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel. The attacks triggered Israeli responses that reportedly degraded Tehran’s air defenses and missile production capabilities, eliciting fear in Iran of a US-Israeli strike against its nuclear program.

Tehran-supported Hamas in Gaza has suffered heavy losses, as has Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran’s main ally among Arab leaders, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, was toppled in December.

The leaders of the Islamic Republic also face domestic pressure as years of international sanctions have choked the economy.

Iranian demonstrators carry Iranian, Palestinian and Hezbollah terror group flags at an anti-Israeli rally after Friday prayer in Tehran, Iran on April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

While the West wants to include Iran’s ballistic missile program and regional influence in negotiations, Tehran maintains it will talk only about its nuclear program.

“If the American side does not raise irrelevant issues and demands and puts aside threats and intimidation, there is a good possibility of reaching an agreement,” deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said.

Hardline Iranian media are skeptical about the talks.

The Kayhan newspaper warned that entering negotiations with the United States in a bid to lift sanctions was a “failed strategy.”

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