Iran gave details of the “deal” offered to Donald Trump to reduce tensions: “It is essential that the US also benefits”

Iran is seeking a nuclear deal with the United States that would bring economic benefits to both sides, an Iranian diplomat said on Sunday, just days before the second round of talks between Tehran and Washington, Reuters reports.

Iran and the US resumed talks earlier this month to address their decades-old dispute over Tehran's nuclear program and avoid a new military confrontation. US officials recalled in comments made to Reuters that the United States had sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East region and was preparing for the possibility of a sustained military campaign if the talks were unsuccessful.

Speaking at a press conference in Bratislava, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump had “made it clear” that he preferred diplomacy and a negotiated solution, while stressing that this may not happen.

“No one has ever been able to make a successful deal with Iran, but we're going to try,” Rubio said.

Iran has threatened to strike US bases in the Middle East if attacked by US forces, but on Sunday took a conciliatory tone.

Iran talks about common economic interests with the US

“For the sustainability of an agreement, it is essential that the US also benefits in areas with high and fast economic returns,” said Hamid Ghanbari, deputy director for economic diplomacy at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

“Joint interests in oil and gas, joint deposits, mining investments and even aircraft purchases are included in the negotiations,” Ghanbari said, arguing that the 2015 nuclear pact with major powers did not secure US economic interests.

In 2018, Trump withdrew the US from the deal that had eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program and reimposed tough economic sanctions against Tehran.

A source told Reuters on Friday that a US delegation that will include special envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will meet with Iranian officials in Geneva on Tuesday – a meeting later confirmed to Reuters on Sunday by a senior Iranian official.

“Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be traveling — I think they're already on the way — to have important meetings and we'll see how things go,” Marco Rubio said, without giving further details.

While the talks that led to the 2015 nuclear deal were multilateral, the current negotiations are only between Iran and the United States, with Oman acting as mediator.

Abbas Araqchi, Iran's foreign minister, left Tehran for Geneva to attend indirect nuclear talks with the US and meet with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear agency, as well as other officials, his ministry said.

Iran says it is open to a compromise with the US

Majid Takht-Ravanchi, the deputy foreign minister, signaled Iran's willingness to compromise on its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief, telling the BBC on Sunday that the ball was “in America's court to show that it wants to do a deal”.

The senior official pointed to the statement by the head of Iran's atomic program on Monday that the country could accept the dilution of its enriched uranium in exchange for the lifting of sanctions as an example of Iran's flexibility.

However, he reiterated that Tehran would not agree to completely give up uranium enrichment – a key sticking point in previous negotiations – with Washington viewing enrichment on Iranian soil as a possible path to nuclear weapons. Iran denies it is pursuing such weapons and insists its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes.

Meanwhile, the US is trying to put new economic pressure on the regime in Tehran. In a meeting at the White House last week, President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed that the US should work to reduce Iran's oil exports to China, Axios reported Saturday.

China buys more than 80 percent of Iran's oil exports, so any reduction in that trade would significantly diminish Iran's oil revenues.