While the world's attention has been focused on Ukraine, the Biden administration has also been racing with world global toward restoring the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
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After months of negotiations in Vienna, the various sides have indicated a new deal is close, perhaps in the coming days. But instead of the "longer, stronger" agreement originally promised by the US, the deal is expected to do little more than reinstate the original pact, whose key restrictions on Iranian nuclear activity expire in a few years.
This modest accomplishment appears to be the best the Biden administration can hope for at a time when it is restrained by Congress at home, and overwhelmed abroad with the Ukraine crisis and longer-term challenges such as China and climate change. But it is setting off alarm bells in Israel, whose leaders have grown increasingly vocal in their condemnations of a deal they fear will not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
On Wednesday, Iran said its top nuclear negotiator was returning to Tehran for consultations, suggesting a breakthrough in its discussions is not imminent.
"Nuclear talks in Vienna are reaching a sensitive and important point," Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told a news conference with his Omani counterpart in Tehran.
"Overall, we are optimistic about the Vienna talks so far, and we hope that some sensitive and important issues will be resolved in negotiations with a realistic approach by the West."
Oman's foreign minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi arrived in Tehran on Wednesday for talks with his Iranian counterpart, state media reported, with the visit scheduled to focus on bilateral and international affairs, the IRNA news agency said.
Oman has often acted as a go-between to help facilitate back-door diplomacy between the US and Iran, sometimes involving the release of prisoners.
The diplomatic visit raised speculation that Oman may get involved as an intermediary in the ongoing nuclear talks, or deliver a US message to Iran.
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