Gulf Insider
There’s currently some consensus among international reports that the weekend US-Iran peace talks in Pakistan fundamentally broke down over the nuclear issue. The question of Iran’s enriched uranium has at times over the course of the war taken a front seat and at other times a back seat when it comes to Washington’s evolving justifications and war aims in launching Operation Epic Fury. On Monday a US official has been cited in Axios as saying Iran must halt its nuclear enrichment program for 20 years to end the war, scaling back from an earlier White House demand for a permanent end to enrichment. And that’s when sources say the Iranians countered with a shorter “single digit” period. The unnamed sources explained that during talks in Islamabad the Iranian mediators countered with a proposal to halt enrichment for less than ten years. Multiple Middle Eastern countries are still working to mediate a resolution, as both Washington and Tehran moved away from maximalist positions on enrichment. Before the talks, Trump demanded a permanent halt, while Iran pushed for a deal allowing a civilian nuclear program without additional restrictions. Al Jazeera reports of where things stand in the following: Pakistan, which spent weeks positioning itself as a mediator and succeeded in bringing both […]
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