The Trump administration has told Iran that it expects the Iranian delegation, led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, to arrive at their next meeting “with meaningful substance,” two people familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
On Friday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and US Central Command Commander Adm. Brad Cooper met with Araghchi and other Iranian senior officials in Oman.
The first meeting was described as a “good meeting,” focusing mainly on how the negotiations would be conducted rather than on the core issues themselves, the sources said. The Americans expect the Iranians to come to the next meeting prepared to offer concessions on the nuclear issue and other matters, they added.
On Sunday, Araghchi said a complete halt to uranium enrichment was absolutely unacceptable to Iran.
“The discussions should focus on scenarios in which uranium enrichment continues, alongside assurances that the enrichment is solely for peaceful purposes,” he said.
Araghchi insisted that the missile issue and the “regional arena,” i.e., Iran’s proxies, were off the agenda for the negotiations.
“The subject of the negotiations is the nuclear issue, and that is how it will remain,” he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to leave on Tuesday for a meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
On Sunday, the security cabinet convened. Israel’s position is that negotiations with Iran must include preventing the terrorist regime in Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, restrictions on its ballistic missiles, and an end to its support for the regional terrorist axis, the cabinet ministers were told.
“Time and again, the Iranian regime has proven that its promises cannot be trusted,” the official talking points distributed to the cabinet ministers ahead of the meeting said. “Should the Iranian regime, which has for decades oppressed its own people who aspire to freedom and justice, attempt to harm our sovereignty or our citizens, the consequences will be extremely severe. Any such attempt will be met with force and decisive action.”
Sa’ar emphasizes risk of Iranian nuclear weapons in meeting with Paraguayan counterpart
At the start of his meeting with the foreign minister of Paraguay, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the attempt by the world’s most extreme regime, Iran, to obtain the world’s most dangerous weapon, nuclear weapons, posed a clear threat to regional and global peace.
“The long-range ballistic missiles the Iranian regime seeks to produce in massive quantities endanger Israel, but not only Israel,” he said. “The Iranian regime has already used missiles against other countries in the Middle East. European countries are also threatened by the range of these missiles.”
Iranian Army Commander Maj.-Gen. Amir Hatami on Sunday said Iran’s military was closely monitoring the enemy and is prepared to respond decisively to any aggression.
The presence of US ships in the region was nothing new, he said.
“We have seen this many times over the past decades,” he added.
Hatami said he hoped the enemy would not make mistakes, adding that “our air forces are ready to respond.”