Iran has presented a nuclear deal proposal to the U.S. side that is expected to serve as a practical test to gauge the American side’s “seriousness,” Iranian state-run news agency, IRNA, reported on Thursday.
IRNA, which is accompanying the Iranian delegation to Oman’s Embassy in Geneva, Switzerland for the third round of talks scheduled for Thursday, reported that the draft proposal was submitted to the U.S. side through Omani mediators.
“Rejecting it would amount to confirming the initial suspicion that the United States is not genuinely committed to diplomacy and that its diplomatic posture is merely a game,” the agency said as the two sides prepare for the new and decisive round of negotiations.
It did not, however, disclose the content of the proposal.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, accompanied by a delegation that includes Majid Takht-Ravanchi, his deputy for political affairs, and a team of nuclear, legal, and economic experts, arrived in Geneva on Wednesday evening.
Soon after his arrival, Araghchi met with his Omani counterpart Badr Al-Busaidi to discuss the contours of the talks and the draft proposal to be submitted to the U.S. side.
According to Iranian media, during the meeting, Araghchi stressed that the success of the ongoing negotiations requires “seriousness from the other side” and avoiding “contradictory behaviour and positions.”
In a statement, Oman’s Foreign Ministry said the two diplomats reviewed views and proposals that the Iranian delegation will present in this round of talks with an aim to reach an agreement.
The draft proposal is based on guiding principles agreed to by the two sides in the previous round of negotiations.
According to media reports, Witkoff also met the Omani foreign minister following his arrival in Geneva on Thursday morning to exchange notes and receive the Iranian draft.
Ahead of his departure to Geneva, Araghchi said Iran will resume talks in Geneva “with a determination to achieve a fair and equitable deal in the shortest possible time.”
The new round of talks, he said, will be based “on the understandings forged in the previous rounds” in Muscat, Oman and Geneva, calling it “a historic opportunity to strike an unprecedented agreement.”
Following the last round of talks on Feb. 17, the assessment was positive from both sides as they claimed to have agreed on guiding principles to reach a potential deal.
The indirect nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington come amid a massive U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf region and in the wake of a series of drills by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).(NAN/AA)(nannews.ng)
Edited by Mark Longyen
