Iran’s foreign minister to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar as talks with US continue

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, will visit Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Saturday, a day before the fourth round of US-Iran negotiations are set to take place in Oman, The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister publication, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that Araghchi will discuss Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza and other developments in Palestine with Saudi Arabia.

Araghchi will discuss coordinating efforts to bring the war to an end, and will address the deteriorating humanitarian situation amid the Israeli blockade, which has continued over two months and plunged the Strip into a deep humanitarian crisis, with widespread malnutrition and famine-like conditions.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria will also be on the agenda.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that Araghchi will brief Saudi leaders on the indirect negotiations between Tehran and Washington, before he heads to Doha to participate in the fourth session of the Arab-Iranian dialogue.  

Iran-US talks

According to Iran's Nour news agency, the fourth round of Iranian-American negotiations will likely be held next Sunday. The Omani foreign ministry will officially announce the date.

The talks come following statements from US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who said talks were "progressing positively" and that Trump "prefers diplomatic solutions if the opportunity presents itself".

US news site Axios quoted Witkoff as saying that Washington is trying to set a date for the next round of nuclear talks with Iran, adding: "If it doesn’t happen, it’s only because of the president’s visit to the Middle East".

Fatemeh Mohajerani, an Iranian government spokesperson, confirmed that Tehran had taken "necessary measures, and we announced from the beginning of Mr. Donald Trump's presidency that we were prepared for all scenarios."

She also weighed in on the reasoning behind the postponement of the fourth round of talks with the US, signalling it was not due to Iran but rather a technical issue, and they are waiting for Oman to announce the start.

She also stressed that Iran’s stance in coming talks is "firm and clear", emphasising that "we are only negotiating about the nuclear issue…it is the right of the Iranian people to use this energy".

Mohajerani described US sanctions against Tehran as "uniltareral economic terrorism and a violation of human rights," noting that recent statements from the US "increase our doubts, and we are not overly optimistic" about the outcome of the negotiations.

Separately, President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday discussed the progress in talks between Iran and the United States with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the Kremlin said.

Putin said Russia was ready to facilitate dialogue between Iran and the US to reach a fair agreement.

The talks were originally set for 3 May in Rome but were postponed.

US President Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew the US from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, has threatened to bomb Iran if no agreement is reached with his administration to resolve the long-standing dispute.

Western countries say Iran's nuclear programme is geared towards producing weapons, whereas Iran insists it is purely for civilian purposes.

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