US Reportedly Seeks Nuclear Deal with Iran with No Time Limit
Washington (ANTARA) - US President’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said that the Trump administration is demanding that any future nuclear deal have no time limit, as reported by the online media Axios on Wednesday.
“We started with Iran with the premise that there are no time limit provisions. Whether or not we reach an agreement, our premise is: you must behave well for life,” Witkoff said at a closed meeting in Washington DC on Tuesday (February 24), as quoted by Axios.
Witkoff said that the two main issues in the current nuclear negotiations are Iran’s ability to enrich uranium and the fate of their existing enriched uranium stockpile.
He added that the current talks are focused on Iran’s nuclear program. However, if an agreement is reached, the White House will push for further negotiations on Iran’s missile program and its support for proxy militias, according to the report.
In the 2015 nuclear deal, reached during the Barack Obama presidency, most of the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program were scheduled to expire between eight and 25 years after the agreement was signed. Iran also committed not to develop nuclear weapons.
President Donald Trump, who withdrew from the 2015 deal, is likely open to accepting “symbolic” uranium enrichment in Iran if Tehran proves that it is not facilitating the development of nuclear weapons, the report said, citing US officials who said that Iran is currently under significant pressure from mediators, namely Oman, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, to take steps to reach an agreement with the US that would prevent war.
A new round of US-Iran negotiations is scheduled to take place on Thursday (February 26) in Geneva and is expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear program, including the level of uranium enrichment and the lifting of sanctions.
The US administration has deployed a large number of military forces in the Middle East. Trump warned on Monday (February 23) that he would prefer to reach an agreement with Iran, but if no agreement is reached, “it will be a very bad day” for the country, referring to the possibility of a US attack.