In talking with Tehran, Trump is reversing course on Iran – could a new nuclear deal be next?
Negotiators from Iran and the United States are set to meet again in Oman on April 26, prompting hopes the two countries might be moving, albeit tentatively, toward a new nuclear accord.
The scheduled talks follow the two previous rounds of indirect negotiations that have taken place under the new Trump administration. Those discussions were deemed to have yielded enough progress to merit sending nuclear experts from both sides to begin outlining the specifics of a potential framework for a deal.
The development is particularly notable given that Trump, in 2018, unilaterally walked the U.S. away from a multilateral agreement with Iran. That deal, negotiated during the Obama presidency, put restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Trump, instead turned to a policy that involved tightening the financial screws on Iran through enhanced sanctions while issuing implicit military threats.
But that approach failed to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program.
Now, rather than revive the maximum pressure policy of his first term, Trump — ever keen to be seen as a dealmaker — has given his team the green light for the renewed diplomacy and even reportedly rebuffed, for now, Israel’s desire to launch military strikes against Tehran.