High -ranking representatives of Washington and Tehran are expected to discuss the Iranian nuclear program today. US envoy to the Middle East Steve Whitkov and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragi are expected to have closed -door talks in Muskat. The discussions will be the first to such a level between the two countries since the US departure in 2018, under Donald Trump’s first presidency, from the agreement that was concluded in 2015 between Iran and the Great Powers on Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions.

Iran’s leadership is facing a choice between him to abandon his nuclear ambitions, which would probably make it more vulnerable in the long run, or to continue the course of its nuclear development and dramatically increase the risk of attack by Israel and the US.

And despite the fact that Iran denies at a time he wants to develop nuclear weapons, top officials have repeatedly stated that if he is attacked, this will change and eventually It will push it to the construction of a nuclear bomb.

President Donald Trump revealed the forthcoming negotiations in a surprise announcement on Monday while on the side of the leader of the persistent enemy of Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And while the US president described the discussions as “direct” talks with Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reacted quickly by saying that the negotiations would be indirect, at least for the time being.

Indirect talks would probably act as a “starting point and bridge” to help both sides understand each other’s positions, according to Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi, a partner in the Middle East and North African Chatham House program.

“It will probably be more maximal than any other discussion they may have,” he said. “We must remember that there was no immediate involvement between the US and Iran for some time.”

Tough attitude

The American team keeps tough attitude As it begins talks, with the US imposing new sanctions on Wednesday.

Trump has threatened to bomb Iran If he refuses to conclude an agreement on the future of his nuclear program.

The effort to end Iran’s nuclear program is an issue that Trump reiterated from his first term when he withdrew the United States from the 2015 landmark agreement on Iranian nuclear, officially known as a common overall action plan. Iran then agreed to dismantle much of its nuclear program and allow inspections on its premises in exchange for the relief of sanctions.

Saturday’s talks also come after repeated warnings by Rafael Grossi, the head of the United Nations Atomic Energy Organization, that Iran has “dramatically” enriching uranium up to 60%, approaching approximately 90%.

Meanwhile, the conflict in the Gaza Strip has seen two of Iran’s main non -state allies Hamas and Hezbollah, seriously weaken by Israeli forces, with Washington increasingly targeting Houthi in Yemen.

‘Very high price’

Richard Dearlove, a former head of the British Intelligence Service MI6, told NBC News in an interview on Thursday that he believes that the Trump government “would require a very high price”, that is, to leave Iran his entire nuclear program for both energy.

“I think there is a substance for Trump and Israel that Iran should not have nuclear capacity,” he said.

Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a security and nuclear policy expert in the Middle East at the University of Princeton and a former Iranian spokesman in his nuclear negotiations with the West, said that he did not believe that if talks this weekend would fail. According to him, the two sides will use indirect conversations as an opportunity to “evaluate each other and the intentions of the other side”.

But time is essential. With representatives of Iran have been seriously weakened and its air defense suffered damage during clashes with Israel last year, Israel and Republican hawks in Washington believe that the time for military action against the nuclear facilities is mature.