The US President, Donald Trump, announced on Thursday that the US was “very close” to reaching a nuclear deal with Iran, reported Reuters.
Trump said that Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the deal’s terms. Speaking in the Qatari capital Doha, the second stop of his Middle East tour, the US President said: “We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” referring to the recent talks between both countries, which concluded on Sunday.
“We’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this… there (are) two steps to doing this, there is a very, very nice step and there is the violent step, but I don’t want to do it the second way,” he added.
On Wednesday, Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in an interview with NBC News that Tehran was willing to agree to curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.
Shamkhani said that Iran would get rid of its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium and agree to enrich to lower levels required for civilian purposes under international inspection.
The US and Iran have so far held four rounds of nuclear talks, mediated by Oman, to resolve disputes over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.
Despite reported progress in the talks, both sides remain divided over many red lines. American officials insisted that Tehran must halt uranium enrichment, while Iranian officials said it was Iran’s right to enrich uranium on its soil. However, they have recently indicated they might reduce the amount of highly enriched uranium stockpile.
