"US to Pursue Nuclear Talks with Iran in Oslo Next Week"

First Official US-Iran Talks Since US Attack on Iranian Nuclear Facilities, If Held

Steve Witkoff, US Special Envoy for the Middle East. Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

The US plans to hold a high-level meeting with Iran in Oslo, Norway next week, according to a report by US media outlet Axios on July 3 (local time).

Axios reported that Steve Witkoff, US Special Envoy for the Middle East under President Donald Trump, is scheduled to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to discuss the resumption of nuclear negotiations between the two countries, although the exact date has not yet been determined.

If this meeting takes place, it will be the first official talks between the US and Iran since the US attacked three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 21. The US and Iran had planned to hold the sixth round of nuclear negotiations in Oman on June 15, but the planned US-Iran talks were canceled after Israel launched a surprise airstrike on Iranian nuclear and military facilities on June 12.

If the talks are held next week, both sides are expected to discuss the issue of handling Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which is believed to have survived the US and Israeli attacks, as well as a recently enacted Iranian law that provisionally suspends cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Meanwhile, the US Treasury Department announced that it has newly sanctioned companies linked to Iraqi national Salim Ahmed Said, who allegedly disguised at least several billion dollars' worth of Iranian oil as Iraqi to smuggle it, as well as ships that transported Iranian oil. The Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on a company and several individuals connected to Al-Qard Al-Hasan, a financial institution controlled by Hezbollah, the pro-Iranian armed faction in Lebanon.