Another US aircraft carrier in Mideast waters ahead of second round of Iran-US nuclear talks
A second US aircraft carrier is operating in Mideast waters ahead of the next round of talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, satellite photos analyzed Tuesday by The Associated Press showed.The operation of the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group in the Arabian Sea comes as suspected US airstrikes pounded parts of Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels overnight into Tuesday.American officials repeatedly have linked the US’ monthlong campaign against the Houthis under President Donald Trump as a means to pressure Iran in the negotiations.Questions remain over where the weekend talks between the countries will be held after officials initially identified Rome as hosting the negotiations, only for Iran to insist early Tuesday they would return to Oman.
American officials so far haven’t said where the talks will be held.The stakes of the negotiations couldn’t be higher for the two nations closing in on half a century of enmity.Trump repeatedly has threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program if a deal isn’t reached.
Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, who represented America in last weekend’s talks in Oman, separately signaled that the Trump administration may be looking at terms of the 2015 nuclear deal that the president unilaterally withdrew from in 2018 as a basis for these negotiations.He described the talks last weekend as “positive, constructive, compelling.”“This is going to be much about verification on the enrichment program, and then ultimately verification on weaponization,” Witkoff told Fox News on Monday night.
“That includes missiles, the type of missiles that they have stockpiled there.And it includes the trigger for a bomb.”He added: “We’re here to see if we can solve this situatio...