Live updates: Trump to discuss new Iran proposal as Tehran’s top diplomat meets Putin

Trump Iran Russia proposal emerges as Tehran envoy meets Putin in Moscow

Muhammad Asghar | GlobalBeat

President Donald Trump convened senior advisers at the White House on Tuesday to review a fresh diplomatic package aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program.

The closed-door session began hours after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi landed in Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin, Russian diplomats confirmed.

Washington wants uranium enrichment capped at 3.67 % in exchange for phased sanctions relief, three officials familiar with the draft told reporters. Tehran has enriched up to 60 % since the 2018 US pullout from the JCPOA deal, putting it weeks from weapons-grade material if it chose to sprint.

Moscow, which built Iran’s Bushehr reactor and maintains warm ties with both sides, has offered to host direct negotiations, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said. Russian mediation could give Trump a face-saving path while letting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claim he never bowed to “Great Satan” pressure.

Senior Republicans warned the president not to repeat Barack Obama’s “blank cheque” approach. “Any sanctions relief must be reversible and verified weekly,” Senator Tom Cotton said after leaving the Situation Room briefing. Cotton authored 2019 measures that choked Iran’s oil sales to 300,000 barrels a day from 2.5 million.

Oil markets shrugged off the news. Brent crude stayed flat at $76.40 a barrel, with traders recalling 5 previous diplomatic false starts since Trump quit the accord. Still, analysts at RBC Capital said 1 million Iranian barrels could return within 90 days if Washington licenses Chinese, Indian and Turkish buyers again.

Israel’s government urged caution. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Army Radio that “no agreement can let Iran keep centrifuges spinning underground at Fordow.” Israeli jets twice bombed Iranian facilities in Syria this month, killing 11 Revolutionary Guards, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

European capitals welcomed the signals. “We stand ready to restore JCPOA snap-back if both sides move,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in Brussels. The bloc’s 2021 attempt to revive talks collapsed when Iran demanded the Revolutionary Guards be removed from the US terrorist list.

Inside Iran, hard-liners mocked the proposal. Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told lawmakers the US “offers candy while holding a gun,” state TV reported. Yet inflation is chewing through household budgets again; the rial plunged to 690,000 per dollar on the free market, half its pre-2018 value.

Background

Washington and Tehran have not exchanged ambassadors since 1980, after Iranian students seized the US embassy and held 52 diplomats for 444 days. Every president since has tried, and failed, a grand bargain.

Ronald Reagan sold arms to Tehran in secret to free hostages in Lebanon, then used proceeds to fund Nicaraguan rebels. Bill Clinton imposed the first sweeping sanctions in 1995, blocking Conoco from a $1 billion oil deal. George W. Bush labelled Iran part of an “axis of evil” even as post-9/11 Tehran helped US forces topple the Taliban.

Obama spent 20 months crafting the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The accord shipped 98 % of Iran’s enriched uranium to Russia, capped enrichment for 15 years and lifted EU oil sanctions. Trump called it “the worst deal ever” and exited in May 2018, restoring banking curbs that cut Iranian crude exports 88 % within a year.

Israel and Gulf states cheered the move, but European firms fled. Total, Airbus and Siemens wrote off billions. Tehran responded by breaching limits every 60 days starting July 2019, installing advanced IR-6 centrifuges at Natanz and enriching uranium metal, a warhead component.

What’s Next

Trump wants an answer before Congress returns 12 May; legislators plan a fresh sanctions package that would punish any country buying Iranian oil after 1 June. Araghchi will brief Khamenei on Thursday and then fly to Beijing, Iranian media said, seeking leverage as China remains the top buyer of discounted Iranian crude.