U.S. plans nuclear talks with Iran in Oslo next week
Why it matters: The sources said a final date hasn't been set, and neither country has publicly confirmed the meeting. But if it happens, it would mark the first direct talks since President Trump ordered an unprecedented military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities last month.
"We have no travel announcements at this time," a White House official told Axios.
The Iranian mission to the UN declined to comment.
Behind the scenes: Witkoff and Araghchi have been in direct contact during and since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, which ended in a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, according to the sources.
Omani and Qatari officials have also been involved in mediating between the two sides.
In the immediate aftermath of the war, the Iranians were reluctant to engage with the U.S., but that position has gradually softened.
Israel's Channel 12 was the first to report on the planned meeting.
What to watch: A key issue in any future talks will be Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which includes 400 kilograms enriched to 60%.
Israeli and U.S. officials say the material is currently "sealed off from the outside world" inside the three nuclear sites attacked during the joint strikes: the enrichment facilities at Natanz and Fordow, and the underground tunnels at the Isfahan site.
Iran is unable to access the stockpile for now due to damage from the strikes, but it could be recovered once the rubble is cleared.
State of play: Iran announced earlier this week that it has begun implementing a new law passed by parliament that suspends all cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Araghchi wrote on X Thursday that Iran remains committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its Safeguards Agreement.
"In accordance with the new legislation by [parliament], sparked by the unlawful attacks against our nuclear facilities by Israel and the U.S., our cooperation with the IAEA will be channeled through Iran's Supreme National Security Council for obvious safety and security reasons," he wrote.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
19 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
MAGA faithful cheer Trump for pausing Ukraine weapons after bristling at Iran strikes
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is getting praise from his most ardent supporters for withholding some weapons from Ukraine after they recently questioned the Republican leader's commitment to keeping the U.S. out of foreign conflicts. This week's announcement pausing deliveries of key air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other equipment to Ukraine comes just a few weeks after Trump ordered the U.S. military to carry out strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Bombing those sites in Iran had some hardcore supporters of the "Make America Great Again" movement openly questioning whether Trump was betraying his vow to keep America out of 'stupid wars" as he inserted the U.S. military into Israel's conflict with Tehran. With the Ukraine pause, which affects a crucial resupply of Patriot missiles, Trump is sending the message to his most enthusiastic backers that he is committed to following through on his campaign pledge to wind down American support for Ukraine's efforts to repel Russia, a conflict he has repeatedly described as a costly boondoggle for U.S. taxpayers. 'The choice was this: either prioritize equipping our own troops with a munition in short supply (and which was used to defend U.S. troops last week) or provide them to a country where there are limited U.S. interests,' Dan Caldwell, who was ousted as a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, posted on X. Caldwell publicly worried before the Iran strikes that U.S. involvement could incite a major war and ultimately cost American lives. Far-right influencer Jack Posobiec, another ardent MAGA backer, warned as Trump weighed whether to carry out strikes on Iran last month that such a move 'would disastrously split the Trump coalition." Both the White House and the Pentagon have justified the move as being consistent with Trump's campaign pledge to limit U.S. involvement in foreign wars. 'The president was elected on an America first platform to put America first,' Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said. At the same time, the decision is stirring anxiety among those in the more hawkish wing of the Republican Party. Many are flummoxed by Trump's halting the flow of U.S. arms just as Russia accelerates its unrelenting assault on Ukraine. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican who hails from a district that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024, wrote to Trump and the Pentagon on Wednesday expressing 'serious concern' about the decision and requesting an emergency briefing. 'We can't let (Russian President Vladimir) Putin prevail now. President Trump knows that too and it's why he's been advocating for peace,' Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, wrote on X. 'Now is the time to show Putin we mean business. And that starts with ensuring Ukraine has the weapons Congress authorized to pressure Putin to the negotiating table.' Trump spoke by phone with Putin on Thursday, the sixth call between the leaders since Trump's return to office. The leaders discussed Iran, Ukraine and other issues but did not specifically address the suspension of some U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine, according to Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign affairs adviser. Zelenskyy said in Denmark after meeting with major European Union backers that he hopes to talk to Trump in the coming days about the suspension. The administration says it is part of global review of the U.S. stockpile and is a necessary audit after sending nearly $70 billion in arms to Ukraine since Putin launched the war on Ukraine in February 2022. The pause was coordinated by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby. Colby, before taking his position, spoke publicly about the need to focus U.S. strategy more on China, widely seen as the United States' biggest economic and military competitor. At his Senate confirmation hearing in March, he said the U.S. doesn't have a 'multi-war military.' 'This is the restrainers like Colby flexing their muscle and saying, 'Hey, the Pacific is more important,'' said retired Navy Adm. Mark Montgomery, an analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Backers of a more restrained U.S. foreign policy say the move is necessary, given an unsettled Middle East, rising challenges in Asia and the stress placed on the U.S. defense industrial complex after more than three years of war in Ukraine. 'You're really coming up to the point where continuing to provide aid to Ukraine is putting at risk the U.S. ability to operate in future crises,' said Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities. 'And you don't know when those crises are going to happen."
28 minutes ago
Nobel laureate warns Iran is increasingly repressing its own citizens
Human rights advocate Narges Mohammadi warns that the Iranian government is using the aftermath of its war with Israel to escalate repression against its own citizens.
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
COP30 CEO Calls for 'Realistic' Expectations for UN Climate Talks
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The CEO for this year's COP30 climate talks in Brazil used an appearance at a Newsweek London Climate Action Week event to manage expectations for the highly anticipated United Nations gathering in her country in November. "We need to be realistic [about] where the geopolitics are at the moment, and the geopolitics are definitely not helping," COP30 CEO Ana Toni said in a Climate Conversation interview last week produced by Newsweek and partners at Hi Impact and London Climate Action Week. "We have several military wars, unfortunately, we have trade wars happening." Brazil will host COP30 in Belém, the capital of the state of Pará, at the mouth of the Amazon River. It will be the first UN climate negotiations convened in the Amazon, highlighting the connections between climate change and nature conservation. The talks also mark the 10th anniversary of the landmark Paris Climate Agreement and countries in the agreement are due to update their national plans for meeting greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. COP30 CEO Ana Toni in a Newsweek "Climate Conversation" interview during London Climate Action Week. COP30 CEO Ana Toni in a Newsweek "Climate Conversation" interview during London Climate Action Week. Courtesy of Hi Impact Despite strong global growth in renewable energy, EVs and other clean technologies, global emissions have reached a record high, and scientists documented that the past two years were the world's warmest on record. That combination of factors makes COP30 an especially urgent gathering. However, the global political atmosphere does not bode well for climate progress, Toni said. In addition to wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, President Donald Trump has imposed steep tariffs against major trade partners around the world, undermining other multilateral talks. Trump is also undoing federal policy on climate change and announced that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris agreement, as he did in 2017 during his first term as President. Toni cautioned against hopes for a dramatic outcome from Belém. "I know there is a lot of temptation to imagine that any one meeting will solve our problems, unfortunately this is not the case," she said. "The work will not finish at COP30, it's just a very important moment." Toni is the national secretary for Climate Change at Brazil's Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced in January that she will be CEO of the COP30 talks along with André Corrêa do Lago, secretary for climate, who will be COP30 president. The host nation officials for UN climate talks typically play an important role in setting the agenda for the event and guiding negotiations toward a final agreement. She said she wants the Belém gathering to promote efforts to finance nature conservation and nature-based climate solutions. "We need to talk much more about nature finance," she said. "We talk very little about how the financial sector, the private sector, can help with that preservation." Toni said COP30 will also focus on the important role cities have to both reduce emissions and adapt to the growing impacts of climate change. "When we are getting into implementation, the topics, perhaps they are less flashy, but they are perhaps more important," she said. "Many people are suffering heat waves, fires, flooding." Newsweek's Climate Conversation also featured interviews with climate policy leader Jennifer Morgan and noted climate scientist Jim Skea. Morgan, the special envoy for international climate action for Germany's Federal Foreign Office, echoed Toni's call for greater attention to climate adaptation and the effects of climate-driven extreme weather events. "The costs are just extraordinary," Morgan said, noting that Germany's central bank is documenting the costs to GDP from climate change. "I don't think it's right to have a certain group of wealthy fossil actors have the power to destroy the earth, to make the lives of poor people and vulnerable people much worse." While costs from climate impacts are growing, so are the global investments in clean energy solutions. According to the International Energy Agency, global energy investment this year will hit a record $3.3 trillion, and clean energy and electrification projects are drawing twice the investment of fossil fuels. Sir Jim Skea, a professor emeritus at Imperial College London, chairs the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Skea said the surging investment in clean technology comes as the costs of renewable energy and energy storage are rapidly falling. "In many parts of the world it is now cheaper to produce electricity from wind and solar than it is from fossil fuels," Skea said. "When the financial incentives and the moral incentives—you know, reducing emissions—go in the same direction it is a very, very powerful message."
