Satellite photos analysed on Tuesday revealed that a second U.S. aircraft carrier is currently operating in the Mideast ahead of the next round of talks between Iran’s nuclear program and the United States.
USS Carl Vinson’s operation in the Arabian Sea and its strike group coincides with suspected U.S. Airstrikes that pounded Yemeni areas controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi Rebels from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. American officials have repeatedly linked the U.S.’s month-long campaign against Houthis under Donald Trump to a way of putting pressure on Iran during the negotiations.
The location of the weekend talks is still unclear after the initial announcement that Rome would host the negotiations. However, Iran announced early Tuesday morning that they would return to Oman. American officials have not yet revealed where the talks will take place.
Negotiations are at stake for two countries that are closing in on a half-century of animosity. Trump has repeatedly threatened to launch airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear program if a deal cannot be reached. Iranian officials are increasingly warning that their stockpiles of uranium, which have been enriched near weapons-grade levels, could be used to build a nuclear bomb.
Even Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, described the first round as “well” while still expressing his comments on Tuesday.
Steve Witkoff of the U.S. Mideast Envoy, who represented America at last weekend’s Oman talks, has separately indicated that the Trump Administration may use the terms of the nuclear deal from 2015 that President Trump unilaterally rescinded in 2018. This could be the basis for these discussions. He called the talks held last weekend “positive, productive, and compelling.”
Witkoff, speaking to Fox News Monday night, said, “The verification will be primarily focused on the enrichment process and weaponization. That includes the missiles and types of missiles they have there. It also includes the bomb’s trigger.”
He said, “We are here to see if this situation can be resolved diplomatically and through dialogue.”
Satellite photos taken by the European Union Copernicus programme on Monday showed the Vinson, based in San Diego, California, and operating northeast of Socotra. Socotra is an island near Yemen, located at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden. The Vinson was accompanied by two Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers – the USS Sterett and USS William P. Lawrence – and a Ticonderoga Class guided missile cruiser.
The US sent the Vinson to support the USS Harry S. Truman in the Middle East, which has launched airstrikes on the Houthis ever since the American campaign began on March 15. The Navy released footage of the Vinson in recent days preparing ordinance and launching F-35s and F/A-18 fighter planes from its deck.
The U.S. Navy 5th Fleet in Bahrain, which is responsible for the Middle East, refused to provide any details about the Vinson’s operation. The U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, declined to discuss details of the Vinson’s operations.
Khamenei, in a speech to senior government officials on Tuesday in Tehran, acknowledged the progress of the negotiations.
Khamenei, 85 years old, said: “We should not be overly hopeful or overly pessimistic about this dialog.” The first steps were taken and implemented properly. The process must be carefully followed from here on. Both for us and the other party, there are no gray areas. It’s not important whether we conclude or not.
He also warned officials to “not tie the country’s matters” to the discussions, which will have a second round on Saturday.
Khamenei continued, “Of Course, we don’t trust them completely- we know with whom we’re dealing. But we’re confident in our abilities.”
Witkoff also offered, for the first time, a specific level of enrichment he would like to see in Iran’s nucleotide program. Tehran enriches its uranium up to 60%, a small technical step away from 90% weapons-grade levels.
Witkoff told Fox News, “They do not have to enrich beyond 3.67%. In some cases, the rate is 60%, and in others, it’s 20%. This is not possible.”
“And you don’t need to run a civil nuclear programme where you enrich beyond 3.67%, as they claim.” This will be a lot about verifying the enrichment program and, ultimately, verifying weaponization.
In the 2015 nuclear agreement Iran signed with world powers, under President Barack Obama, Tehran agreed to reduce its stockpiles of uranium by a significant amount and enrich it only up to 3.67 percent — enough to power its Bushehr nuclear plant. Iran received frozen funds from around the globe in exchange for lifting sanctions on its oil industry.
In an editorial published on Tuesday, Iran’s Javan, a newspaper believed to be closely associated with the Revolutionary Guard paramilitary, said that Tehran was open to reducing its uranium enrichment.
Why should we repeat something we’ve done before and agree? The editorial asked. This is not a withdrawal of the Islamic Republic from their ideals anywhere on the planet.
Trump cited Iran’s stockpile of ballistic missiles as a reason for withdrawing from the agreement in 2018. Witkoff stated that any deal with Iran must include “missiles and the type of missiles they stockpile there, as well as the trigger for a nuclear bomb.”
Iran uses its ballistic missiles to defend itself against nations in the region that are armed with fighter jets or other American weapons. Negotiations will likely be hard to get Iran to give up its missile program.
