Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator
The second round of indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran will be held in Oman on April 19, with the Foreign Minister of Oman acting as the negotiations moderator.
The first session was held on April 12 in Oman, and according to all sides was a productive meeting.
The US has threatened Iran with a devastating military attack if Iran does not make a deal. Iran has pointed out that the United Nations Charter explicitly prohibited using force in international relations.
Iran has said the format of indirect talks is necessary because of the lack of trust in dealings with the US.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was a 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, including the US, brokered during the Obama administration.
US President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal because he was bowing to pressure by AIPAC who had supported his election in 2016. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had lobbied Trump and the US Congress to regard the deal, to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, as negative. Iran had received frozen monies after the agreement went into effect, and it was the lifting of sanctions on Iran that Netanyahu was opposed to. The Trump decision to break the deal was seen by Iran, and many other countries, as an example that Trump is unpredictable and can't be trusted.
Trump is keen on making a new deal with Iran because they are inching closer to having the capability of a nuclear bomb, and because the time is right to make a deal in the US favor. Never before has Iran been in such a precarious state leaving it in a position to make a deal, and Trump can smell the Iranian business and energy resources to be tapped into for U.S. economic interests.
The two sides have separate goals. The US is looking at a view to security from Iran becoming a nuclear state. Trump is also looking for the Iranian market to be opened up to US business interests. The Iranian side seeks the lifting of crippling sanctions and opening up the market for their energy resources and trade.
Trump has sent his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to negotiate the deal because Trump has trusted Witkoff as a friend and golf buddy for over 40 years. Witkoff is a real estate developer in New York, with a background in the law.
Iran has sent Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who holds a PhD. in political thought from Kent University in the UK. He previously was the ambassador to Finland and Japan, and was the lead negotiator in the original 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran has accepted sitting on the table under US conditions after its massive losses in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. The Axis of resistance is dead following the Israeli attacks on Gaza, which took out most of the Hamas leadership and weapons. Gaza now faces a threat of deportation following a Trump vision of developing Gaza after relocating Palestinians elsewhere.
Israel then turned to Lebanon where it attacked Hezbollah, taking out almost all of its leadership and weapons. The current Lebanese government has said only the army should hold weapons, and Hezbollah may begin a process of laying down arms. The Iranian transport route via Syria has been eliminated.
Syria underwent a regime change in December which cut all ties and affiliation with Iran. The Iranians have left Syria and their weapon depots were thoroughly bombed and destroyed by Israel. The new leadership in Damascus is opposed to Iran, but Israel has used the change for a land grab near Damascus and has continued airstrikes even though the threat of weapon smuggling from Tehran is over.
Iran is now in a position of weakness, left isolated and without a foothold in the Middle East. The days of Iranians flying in and out of Beirut and Damascus as advisors and providers are over.
The Iran-sponsored militias in Iraq have voiced a willingness to lay down their arms to avoid future US attacks.
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