The closed-door meeting shows that the White House is trying to reach a framework agreement with Iran to reduce tensions and pave the way for detailed nuclear talks. The administration wants to have top experts ready as soon as talks officially begin. Still, the U.S. and Iran remain at odds over several key points of a possible memorandum, U.S. officials and sources involved in the mediation confirmed.
According to sources close to the negotiations, the talks are in the final stages, but it is still not certain whether an agreement will be reached. A U.S. official told Axios that the visit to Oak Ridge does not mean a deal is close, but it does show the negotiations are serious and the sides are preparing for a possible outcome.
The entire operation took place behind closed doors. Reporters learned that Witkoff had taken a surprise trip to Tennessee, and officials later confirmed that he and Kushner had visited high-security facilities at the U.S. Department of Energy.
The choice of location is not accidental, because Oak Ridge and the Y-12 complex are home to leading American experts in uranium processing and centrifuge technology. Previously, seized nuclear materials from crisis areas, including Kazakhstan and Libya, passed through these facilities. The White House and the National Nuclear Security Administration did not comment on the visit.
According to American sources, a team of about a hundred experts was formed to be involved in the implementation of a possible agreement with Iran. Trump’s envoys came to Tennessee to meet with them and discuss technical preparations.
The meeting comes after Witkoff and Kushner reportedly tentatively agreed to a 60-day memorandum with Iranian negotiators that would extend the ceasefire, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and allow Iran to export oil. In return, formal negotiations would begin on Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium and limits on its further enrichment.
However, Trump later requested changes to the text, and Iran announced its own corrections. The differences, according to sources, are still being reconciled.
The main disagreements are related to deadlines: the US wants Iran to reduce its stockpile of highly enriched uranium within 60 days, while Tehran wants a deadline of 90 days. The second dispute is over frozen Iranian funds – Washington demands that the money be released only after concrete progress, while Iran insists on a partial and immediate unfreezing.
An Iranian adviser to the supreme leader told CNN that negotiations have stalled over the funds and said “the ball is now in Trump’s court.”
If progress is made, the Oak Ridge team of experts would be tasked with working out the technical steps to remove or destroy Iran’s nuclear material, limit enrichment and verify the implementation of the deal.
American officials claim that some of these experts recently participated in similar operations to extract enriched uranium from a research reactor in Venezuela, and that they had previously monitored negotiations in Oman.
“These are the best nuclear experts the U.S. has,” one official said, adding that they believed talks were still open, even though there were deep divisions within Iran’s political elite.
(Vijesti.ba)
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