This first meeting was positive, constructive, convincing, says Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's negotiator, in an interview with Fox News.
The meeting that Witkoff participated in was held after statements from Trump that he wants to reach an agreement with Iran, which would involve the US lifting the boycott against the Islamic republic and the mullahs in Tehran in exchange for them giving up all efforts to acquire nuclear weapons.
Like before?
However, the bomb research has often been suspected of being conducted under the guise of the civilian nuclear energy program. Witkoff now seems to mean that Iran does not need to stop enriching low-grade uranium, which can be used for energy but not for bombs.
This will largely be about verifying the enrichment program, says the American envoy.
They do not need to enrich more than 3.67 percent.
If this is the new US line, it can be seen as Trump backing down to conditions similar to the original agreement, abbreviated JCPOA, which was signed between Iran and Western powers in 2015. Three years later, Trump announced that the US was withdrawing from the "terrible, one-sided deal". But a key condition in JCPOA was precisely that Iran promised not to enrich above 3.67 percent.
"Carried out well"
Even Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has for the first time commented on the negotiations, which are expected to continue shortly.
We are neither very optimistic nor very pessimistic about the talks, says the 85-year-old according to state-run Iranian TV.
They have been carried out well in the first stage, he adds, but also says that Iran remains "pessimistic" about the US in general.
The two countries have not had diplomatic relations since the aftermath of the Iranian revolution in 1979.
