Tehran’s foreign minister will travel to Moscow this week for talks over Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the United States, Iran and Russia.
Abbas Aragci will visit Iran’s allies later this week, Iran’s foreign ministry said on Monday. According to Moscow, the announcement of the trip that Araguchi would meet Sergei Lavrov as his Russian counterpart was followed up at the first meeting of the weekend in Oman as details were revealed about the second meeting between Iran and the United States.
Araguchi’s visit to Russia was “pre-planned, but there will be talks about consultations with the US,” said Esmaeir Baghihai, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry.
Iran and the US said they had a “positive” conversation over the weekend, but negotiations remained indirect as mediators and negotiations.
Iran reportedly prefers Geneva, but agreed to reconvene on Saturday in a report suggesting that Rome will play the host.
The US and its western allies have accused Iran of trying to use its nuclear program to develop weapons. Tehran says the job has only private purposes.
Iran’s diplomatic efforts to resolve nuclear conflicts and lift sanctions on a struggling economy have accelerated amid demands from US President Donald Trump following the threat of military action.
Russia, a permanent veto officer of the UN Security Council, has played a role in nuclear negotiations between the West and Iran in recent years.
As a Tehran ally, it was the signatories of the 2015 nuclear agreement, with international testing agreed and sanctions eased, but Trump waived the contract during his first term as president in 2018.
In new negotiations between Iran and the United States, Moscow is calling for a focus on diplomatic contacts instead of actions that it said could lead to escalation.
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday that Foreign Minister Lavrov would meet Aragut.
“We hope that discussions will be planned with Iranian colleague Sergei Lavrov and meetings with Russian officials,” said Maria Zakhalova, the provincial spokesman.
The Moscow conference is expanding contacts between allies on nuclear talks. Shortly before the meeting in Oman, Russia and Iran joined China in talks.
In contrast, Washington’s western allies, where Trump is already on the sidelines over the war in Ukraine, are trying to avoid a similar fate regarding Iran.
French Foreign Minister Jean Noel Barott claimed on Monday that European countries are looking closely as negotiations continue.
“We are vigilant with our British and German friends and partners. [US-Iran] When Barot arrived for the Foreign Ministers’ Conference of the European Union in Luxembourg, he complied with our security interests regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
France, Germany, Britain and the European Union negotiated a 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, China, Russia and the US.
Meanwhile, Rafael Grossi, the chief of the UN nuclear watchdog, will visit Tehran on Wednesday to meet Aragut and other senior officials, Iranian officials said.
The Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on social media during his last visit to Iran in November and consulted with officials, including President Masuud Pezeshkian:
In a February report, the IAEA said Iran’s estimated 274.8kg (605 pounds) of uranium was enriched to up to 60%, close to the 90% level required to build nuclear weapons.
A vague signal
Before the next talks, Iran and the US continue to provide ambiguous signals.
Iran has yet to confirm where the next talk will be, but sources reportedly told media that the discussion will be held in Rome.
Baghey said the next round will remain indirect under Oman mediation, as in the negotiations in Oman. A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the in-person meetings were “ineffective” and “not useful.”
Tehran continues to argue that the talks focus solely on “the nuclear issue and lifting sanctions,” while Iran “have no discussions with the US on other issues.”
Trump said talks were “OK” and told US reporters on Sunday that he hoped for a quick decision on the nuclear program after meeting with his advisors.
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