The Biden administration has quietly restarted talks with Iran in a bid to win the release of American prisoners held by Tehran and curb the country’s growing nuclear program, people close to the discussions say.
As contacts between the two sides resumed, Washington also approved €2.5bn ($4bn) in payments by the Iraqi government for Iranian electricity and gas imports, US and Iraqi officials said. The money had been frozen by US economic sanctions.
After discussions between senior US and Iranian officials in New York started in December, White House officials have travelled to Oman at least three times for further indirect contacts. Omani officials passed messages between the two sides.
US President Joe Biden took office pledging to revive an international nuclear pact that imposed limits on Iran’s nuclear programs in exchange for the removal of economic sanctions, before declaring in November that such a deal was dead. The US withdrew from the pact under Donald Trump.
The latest attempt at diplomacy represents a delicate political balancing act for Mr Biden and is focused on cooling tensions, which have soared this year as Iran provided drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine, pushed ahead with uranium enrichment and seized oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.
Read the article by Laurence Norman and David S. Cloud in The Australian.