Iran confirms no agreement has been reached
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that an agreement could be reached today, although he warned that if the talks fail, Washington would seek “another way” to resolve the situation.
However, on Monday, Iran warned that an agreement to end the war with the United States was not imminent, after President Donald Trump’s statements raised and then lowered expectations about the proximity of a deal.
Rubio, on his trip to India, warned that if talks fail “today,” Washington would seek “another way” to resolve the situation.
On Monday morning, Trump warned that if the negotiations with Iran taking place in Qatar did not go well, fighting would resume “more intensely than ever” if the talks failed.
Although Trump had stated on Sunday that he would not “rush into a deal,” this represented a reversal of previous public statements by the president and officials from both countries.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters that the goal of the negotiations was to end the war and that, “at this stage, we are not discussing the details of the nuclear issue.”
“It is true that we have reached conclusions on many of the issues under discussion, but no one can claim that this means an agreement is imminent,” Baghaei stated, according to comments reported by the hardline student news network.
Tehran’s effective closure of this key shipping lane has wreaked havoc on global energy markets, but oil prices fell more than $5, hitting two-week lows on Monday, amid growing optimism about a possible agreement. The average price of gasoline in the United States fell slightly to $4.51. Iran’s top negotiators, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, arrived in Doha, Qatar’s capital, on Monday as part of ongoing negotiations, a diplomat briefed on the visit told NBC News.
In recent days, Qatar has resumed a more active role, along with Pakistan, in mediating between the United States and Iran. Iranians gathered to commemorate those killed in the war, who congregated on Sunday in Tehran to remember those who died in the war launched by the United States and Israel and in previous conflicts.
The agreement would commit Iran to not developing nuclear weapons, a senior administration official said, and to giving up enriched uranium (a term used by Trump), although the details of how this giveup would be carried out would be defined in the negotiations over the next 60 days.
