What to know about the tensions between Iran and the US before their second round of talks

DUBAI – Iran and the United States volition clasp talks Saturday successful Rome, their 2nd circular of negotiations implicit Tehran’s rapidly advancing atomic program.

The talks travel a archetypal circular held successful Muscat, Oman, wherever the 2 sides spoke look to face.

Trump has imposed caller sanctions connected Iran arsenic portion of his “maximum pressure” run targeting the country. He has repeatedly suggested subject enactment against Iran remained a possibility, portion emphasizing helium inactive believed a caller woody could beryllium reached by penning a missive to Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to leap commencement these talks.

Khamenei has warned Iran would respond to immoderate onslaught with an onslaught of its own.

Here’s what to cognize astir the letter, Iran’s atomic programme and the tensions that person stalked relations betwixt Tehran and Washington since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Why did Trump constitute the letter?

Trump dispatched the missive to Khamenei connected March 5, past gave a tv interrogation the adjacent day successful which helium acknowledged sending it. He said: “I’ve written them a missive saying, ‘I anticipation you’re going to negociate due to the fact that if we person to spell successful militarily, it’s going to beryllium a unspeakable thing.’”

Since returning to the White House, the president has been pushing for talks portion ratcheting up sanctions and suggesting a subject onslaught by Israel oregon the U.S. could people Iranian atomic sites.

A erstwhile missive from Trump during his archetypal word drew an aggravated retort from the ultimate leader.

But Trump’s letters to North Korean person Kim Jong Un successful his archetypal word led to face-to-face meetings, though no deals to bounds Pyongyang’s atomic bombs and a rocket programme susceptible of reaching the continental U.S.

How did the archetypal circular go?

Oman, a sultanate connected the eastbound borderline of the Arabian Peninsula, hosted the archetypal circular of talks betwixt Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff past weekend. The 2 men met look to look aft indirect talks and instantly agreed to this 2nd round.

Witkoff aboriginal made a tv quality successful which helium suggested 3.67% enrichment for Iran could beryllium thing the countries could hold on. But that’s precisely the presumption acceptable by the 2015 atomic woody struck nether U.S. President Barack Obama, from which Trump unilaterally withdrew America.

Witkoff hours aboriginal issued a connection underlining something: “A woody with Iran volition lone beryllium completed if it is simply a Trump deal.” Araghchi and Iranian officials person latched onto Witkoff’s comments successful caller days arsenic a motion that America was sending it mixed signals astir the negotiations.

Why does Iran’s atomic programme interest the West?

Iran has insisted for decades that its atomic programme is peaceful. However, its officials increasingly endanger to prosecute a atomic weapon. Iran present enriches uranium to adjacent weapons-grade levels of 60%, the lone state successful the satellite without a atomic weapons programme to bash so.

Under the archetypal 2015 atomic deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium up to 3.67% purity and to support a uranium stockpile of 300 kilograms (661 pounds). The past study by the International Atomic Energy Agency connected Iran’s programme enactment its stockpile astatine 8,294.4 kilograms (18,286 pounds) arsenic it enriches a fraction of it to 60% purity.

U.S. quality agencies measure that Iran has yet to statesman a weapons program, but has “undertaken activities that amended presumption it to nutrient a atomic device, if it chooses to bash so.”

Ali Larijani, an advisor to Iran’s ultimate leader, has warned successful a televised interrogation that his state has the capableness to physique atomic weapons, but it is not pursuing it and has nary occupation with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspections. However, helium said if the U.S. oregon Israel were to onslaught Iran implicit the issue, the state would person nary prime but to determination toward atomic limb development.

“If you marque a mistake regarding Iran’s atomic issue, you volition unit Iran to instrumentality that path, due to the fact that it indispensable support itself,” helium said.

Why are relations truthful atrocious betwixt Iran and the U.S.?

Iran was erstwhile 1 of the U.S.’s apical allies successful the Mideast nether Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who purchased American subject weapons and allowed CIA technicians to tally concealed listening posts monitoring the neighboring Soviet Union. The CIA had fomented a 1953 coup that cemented the shah’s rule.

But successful January 1979, the shah, fatally sick with cancer, fled Iran arsenic wide demonstrations swelled against his rule. The Islamic Revolution followed, led by Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and created Iran’s theocratic government.

Later that year, university students overran the U.S. Embassy successful Tehran, seeking the shah’s extradition and sparking the 444-day hostage situation that saw diplomatic relations betwixt Iran and the U.S. severed. The Iran-Iraq warfare of the 1980s saw the U.S. backmost Saddam Hussein. The “Tanker War” during that struggle saw the U.S. motorboat a one-day battle that crippled Iran astatine sea, portion the U.S. aboriginal changeable down an Iranian commercialized airliner that the American subject said it mistook for a warplane.

Iran and the U.S. person see-sawed betwixt enmity and grudging diplomacy successful the years since, with relations peaking erstwhile Tehran made the 2015 atomic woody with satellite powers. But Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord, sparking tensions successful the Mideast that persist today.

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Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat successful Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

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Additional AP sum of the atomic landscape: https://apnews.com/projects/the-new-nuclear-landscape/

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