Dubai: An Emirati diplomat earlier identified by Tehran as carrying a letter from US President Donald Trump met Wednesday with Iran’s foreign minister.
Iranian state television showed Emirati official Anwar Gargash meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran, Iran’s capital.
The footage did not show the letter, but Iran earlier said Gargash would carry the letter. Gargash and the UAE government did not immediately acknowledge his trip during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Trump last week acknowledged writing a letter to Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as an attempt to jumpstart talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Trump’s overture comes as both Israel and the United States have warned they will never let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon, leading to fears of a military confrontation as Tehran enriches uranium at near weapons-grade levels — something only done by atomic-armed nations.
Iran has long maintained its programme is for peaceful purposes, even as its officials increasingly threaten to pursue the bomb as tensions are high with the US over its sanctions and with Israel as a shaky ceasefire holds in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Since Trump returned to the White House, his administration has consistently said that Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons. A report last month, however, by the UN’s nuclear watchdog said Iran has accelerated its production of near weapons-grade uranium.
Trump’s first term in office was marked by a particularly troubled period in relations with Tehran. In 2018, he unilaterally withdrew the United States from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, leading to sanctions hobbling Iran’s economy. Iran retaliated with attacks at sea — including one that it likely carried out and that temporarily halved Saudi Arabia’s oil production.
Trump also ordered the attack that killed Iran’s top general in a Baghdad drone strike in January 2020.
Design & Developed by Yes Mom Hosting
