Trump's shifting attention toward Iran fuels nuclear talks

The move comes in the wake of Iran's heavy regional losses and amid US-Russian co-ordination

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has cast doubt on the validity of a UN Security Council meeting to discuss Tehran's nuclear activities. EPA

The US administration's attention is rapidly shifting toward Iran amid significant changes in the Middle East.

After relaunching its "maximum pressure" campaign, President Donald Trump has sent a letter to Iran's leadership, urging Tehran to negotiate a new deal over its nuclear capabilities.

The move comes in the wake of heavy losses suffered by Iran’s proxies in their conflict with Israel, as well as increased coordination between the US and Russia, Iran’s ally, to ease tensions from Ukraine to Syria and beyond.

On Friday, Iran, despite sending mixed signals about its willingness to negotiate, will participate in nuclear talks with Russia and China. The meeting will focus on Tehran’s nuclear program and the potential lifting of sanctions. Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council was meeting behind closed doors on Wednesday over Iran's expansion of its stock of uranium close to weapons grade.

"Trump is inviting Iran to the negotiating table because he sees an opportunity to also discuss matters related to missiles and regional influence" now that the country looker weaker with the fall of Assad regime in Syria and the veacvy losses of Hezbollah in Lebanon, an arab diplomat and a former foreign affairs minister with multiple visits to tehran told The National.

Beijing's meeting on Friday will be chaired by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov Sergey Alexeevich and his Iranian counterpart Kazem Gharibabadi attending. Esmail Baghai, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the theme of the talks would fall within the country’s framework of regular consultations with various parties.

Mr Trump has said that he wanted to negotiate with Iran rather than resort to military means. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian responded by saying he would not negotiate with Mr Trump while the latter was issuing threats.

Reacting to Wednesday's closed-door UN Security Council meeting over Tehran's nuclear programme, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the gathering was a "new and bizarre process that puts into question the goodwill of states requesting it". The meeting was requested by six of the council's 15 members – France, Greece, Panama, South Korea, Britain and the US – after rising concerns over Iran's expansion of its stockpile of close to weapons-grade uranium.

Arak nuclear plant in central Iran. The regime in Tehran is being encouraged to enter into talks to limit its uranium enrichment. AP

Iran has denied seeking to develop a nuclear weapon. However, it is "dramatically" accelerating enrichment of 60 per cent-purity uranium, to near the 90 per cent weapons-grade level, the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned.

Mr Trump's letter said Tehran’s atomic activities had surged in recent months. The UN watchdog also said the US and Iran should begin talks to settle their differences over Tehran’s nuclear work. Last week, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, dismissed the US call for discussions over the nuclear programme, describing it as “bullying”.

Another round of expert-level discussions is expected to follow the talks in China in late March, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said.

Mr Gharibabadi previously told Tasnim news agency the idea behind these talks stemmed from the previous round of discussions between Iran and Germany, France and the UK in Geneva, Switzerland.

Iran's Khamenei calls Trump letter 'attempt to deceive global public opinion'

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"The talks will be focused at a more technical and specialised level, and we will probably meet again within the next three weeks, so that our experts will also discuss and examine further,” he said. “All sides emphasised that a negotiated solution to these issues of mutual interest must be pursued, and an understanding and outcome must be reached in this direction."

Iran, Russia and China launched their annual Middle East naval exercises, known as Security Belt-2025, in the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday. Tehran was represented by its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a paramilitary force with its own navy, which reportedly deployed fast attack ships that it claims have stealth capabilities.

Mr Trump first imposed his so-called maximum-pressure policy against Iran in 2018, triggering an economic crisis. Tehran responded by stepping up its nuclear activity. Two years later he ordered a drone strike that killed senior Iranian general Qassem Suleimani, the leader of the IRGC's Quds Force, in Baghdad, raising fears that the two countries might be close to war. Iran responded with a missile attack on a US base in Iraq in which American personnel were injured.