Mediator says Iran has made major nuclear program concessions to Trump

The senior Arab diplomat mediating talks between the United States and Iran said Friday that Tehran has made major concessions regarding its nuclear program and urged President Donald Trump to give negotiations more time.

“Everybody knows where the red lines are, what we’re trying to achieve here in both directions, and this is really our job to try and bridge those gaps,” Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi said in an interview with MS NOW after meeting with Vice President JD Vance at the White House.

Al Busaidi, who flew directly to Washington following the latest round of high-stakes nuclear talks in Geneva on Thursday, said the Iranian government is willing to reduce uranium levels below the ones it agreed to with the Obama administration.

“Everything is possible,” he said.

“I have seen a lot of flexibility on both sides, and I believe it’s really a matter of just keeping at it, keeping negotiating to get that to that finishing line,” he added. 

Al Busaidi spoke hours after Trump told reporters Friday morning that he was “not exactly happy” with the way Iran is negotiating — as two U.S. aircraft carriers, dozens of fighter jets and other military assets were amassed in the Middle East off the coast of Iran.

“I’m not happy with the fact that they’re not willing to give us what we have to have,” Trump said as he departed the White House for Mar-a-Lago, without citing specific examples. “So I’m not thrilled with that. We’ll see what happens.”

In an official statement, the Omani foreign ministry said the indirect negotiations between the U.S. and Iran “have thus far yielded substantial, momentous, and unparalleled progress, which could constitute the cornerstone of the envisioned agreement.”

Al Busaidi urged U.S. officials to participate in technical talks on Monday at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. A senior Middle East diplomat with direct knowledge of the talks told MS NOW they will be “hugely significant” — but U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed that American experts will participate.

Negotiating teams have moved beyond the question of closing underground nuclear facilities targeted by the U.S. bombing campaign last summer, Al Busaidi said, adding there has been “quite substantial” progress. 

He also confirmed to MS NOW that ballistic missiles — a key sticking point for the U.S. and its ally Israel — were discussed, but not “mandated for these particular negotiations,” adding the parties are working on a framework to address the issue in regional talks. Iran has also discussed making its oil, gas and rare earth mineral resources available to American companies, according to two people familiar with the U.S.-Iran negotiations.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has not been directly involved in the Iran negotiations, said earlier this week that Iran’s refusal to discuss ballistic missiles was a “big, big problem” and called Iran’s missile program “an unsustainable threat.”

Rubio is set to travel to Israel on Monday with Iran on the agenda, days after the State Department authorized the departure of non-emergency personnel and their family members from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem “due to safety risks.”

Prior to his meeting with Al Busaidi, Vance told The Washington Post there is “no chance” that military strikes in Iran would result in a drawn-out war in the Middle East, despite warnings to the contrary from Pentagon officials and military specialists.

Trump, who said he has not made a final decision, ordered the largest U.S. military buildup in the Middle East in decades and has warned he is prepared to act if needed. 

“I’d love not to use it, but sometimes you have to,” said Trump, who has not sought congressional authorization for military action against Iran.

Al Busaidi said he hopes it won’t come to that.

“I think President Trump is sincerely passionate for a deal. He wants to have a deal,” he said. “He wants to have a diplomatic solution, and this is what we are trying to deliver.”