Iranian Nuclear Talks Ahead of Jewish Holiday – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

On Tuesday, April 8, the White House announced that Washington would begin talks with Tehran over the weekend on the future of Iran’s nuclear program. President Donald Trump — who pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — said that talks on Saturday will be “very high level” in discussing a new deal to keep Iran from gaining nuclear weapons.

The nuclear watchdogs International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) have reported in their so-called “Red Book” that Iran is planning to increase production of uranium this year and contains uranium reserves that “are much larger than previously estimated.” It is believed that since December 2024, Iran has produced enough enriched uranium to produce one nuclear bomb a month. Bloomberg this week reported that Iran has “sufficient uranium to supply a sizable nuclear weapons arsenal.” (RELATED: Trump Administration Imposes Sanctions on Iran Oil)

Iranian officials confirmed Trump’s meeting but refused to hold “direct talks.” According to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Tehran “will not hold direct negotiations with the U.S., but only indirect negotiations through mediators,” and issued a warning that “it is unlikely that Trump would want to repeat the fate of previous U.S. presidents by getting involved in a catastrophic war in the Middle East — a war that would quickly engulf the region and incur costs beyond those of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

On Saturday, April 12, Araghachi will sit down in Oman with U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff in a series of talks mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi.

The Saturday talks are already predicted to go sour, or, at best, that Iran will drag them out long enough to strategically reposition and fortify its armaments.

“If talks with Iran aren’t successful, I think Iran will be in great danger,” Trump stated while placating his “there will be hell to pay” rhetoric used recently to little effect on Iran’s terrorist proxies in the Middle East. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stressed that the president is considering “crippling sanctions on the Iranian regime if they don’t choose to move forward with diplomacy and a deal.”

Iran’s nuclear reactor, located in the Persian Gulf port city of Bushehr, is powered by the Russian Rosatom — a state-run energy conglomerate with plans to build more nuclear facilities in Iran.

The Russian Foreign Ministry — which seems to undermine Washington’s every move — commented that Moscow is under no obligation to provide military assistance to Tehran if Iran is attacked, but would act diplomatically and strategically to stabilize the situation, adding that a U.S.-backed attack on Iran could unleash “catastrophic consequences for the region.” (RELATED: Separating Fact From Hype About BRICS)

Israel perhaps has the greatest stake in the future of any Iranian nuclear deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Budapest on Monday — where he was welcomed by Hungarian President Viktor Orbán in defiance of the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant — and flew to Washington after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged him to “fly out as soon as possible.” (RELATED: Lessons for Trump from Orbán, Hungary’s ‘Comeback’ Prime Minister)

Expecting the urgent meeting to concern trade and tariffs following the new 17 percent levy on Israeli goods as part of Trump’s “Liberation Day” reforms, Netanyahu was quickly informed of the White House’s new Iranian-nuclear agenda hours before Trump announced that talks with Iran would commence over the weekend.

Before arriving back in Israel on Tuesday, Netanyahu stated in a video in Hebrew his desire to see the U.S. and Iran reach a “Libya-style” agreement, such as when U.S. troops dismantled Libya’s nuclear facilities in 2003 to prevent the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi from achieving nuclear strength.

“A second possibility is that this does not happen,” Netanyahu warned, “And then the option is military. Everyone understands this.”

Israel has grown impatient with the failure of the world leaders who brokered Iran’s nuclear deal under President Barack Obama in 2015 for not adequately monitoring or containing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. In light of persistent threats and the Iranian missile assaults on Israel in April and October of 2024, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) is actively preparing for a preemptive strike and bolstering its defenses, as evidenced by the installation of a second U.S.-supplied THAAD (Thermal High Altitude Area Defense) ballistic missile defense system earlier this week. (RELATED: Israelis Choose to Limit Attack on Iran … For Now)

Tension over sudden Iranian escalation runs high in Israel, especially as the IDF tries to contain volatile embers in Syria, southern Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank, which, at any second, could be fully ignited by dictates in Tehran.

In the past week alone, the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have fired daily missiles and drones at Israel — all intercepted over Saudi or Jordanian airspace by U.S. Naval or Israeli air defense systems. On Sunday, a massive rocket barrage from Hamas in Gaza covered the skies over the southern Israeli port cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod. All were intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome, except for one rocket that struck a residential neighborhood in Ashkelon. (RELATED: The Meaning of US Airstrikes on Houthis)

Tensions also run high ahead of next week’s holiday. Passover begins on Saturday night, followed by the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread when schools are closed, and many Israelis travel for the week-long holiday.

Last year, Passover came on the heels of Iran’s 300-plus missile assault on Israel in the midnight hours of April 14. The Israeli Home Front Command advised the country to remain vigilant over the holiday, with sufficient gas in the car, a travel bag packed and ready, cash on hand, and medical and food supplies rationed in anticipation of continued attacks.

Passover last year was celebrated similarly to the first Passover in ancient Egypt — with a “cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet” ready to rush to the nearest bomb shelter at a second’s notice.

Readiness and vigilance remain in effect in Israel as Washington and Tehran hopefully flesh out a peaceful resolution on Saturday, hours before the Passover seders begin.

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