Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will visit China on Tuesday, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, ahead of a third round of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington due on Saturday in Oman.
On a trip to Moscow last week, Araqchi told state TV that Tehran always closely consults with its friends, Russia and China, over the nuclear issue.
“We have started trilateral talks between Iran, Russia, and China on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program for some time now,” Araqchi said in a Saturday interview with RT.
Last week, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sent a letter to President Vladimir Putin to brief the Kremlin about nuclear negotiations with the U.S., which has threatened to bomb the Islamic Republic.
On Saturday, FM Araqchi negotiated for four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them. Moreover, Iran and the United States agreed to begin drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement,” Araqchi said.
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
