Irans master negotiator to face US reps

Agencies DUBAI

Abbas Araqchi, Iran's seasoned top diplomat, faces one of his most delicate challenges ever this weekend as he prepares to lead talks with the US to secure a new nuclear deal and avert a military strike against the Islamic Republic. His country's clerical establishment is approaching the talks in Oman warily, sceptical of progress and suspicious of  US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to bomb if no deal is reached.

Whether the talks are direct, as Trump says they will be, or indirect, as Tehran insists, Araqchi will be squaring off with US envoy Steve Witkoff, a real estate magnate without previous experience in foreign policy - let alone of the thorny, long-running dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions. The stakes could hardly be higher for Araqchi, the scion of an Isfahan bazaar family who joined Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution as a teenager and fought in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war before embarking on a dazzling diplomatic career.

Although there is little optimism in Tehran that the talks will go far, the political establishment appears confident in Araqchi's ability to play Iran's hand with deftness and guile. Iran-based analyst Saeed Leylaz, who is also a political insider, said,  "Araqchi is one of the most powerful foreign ministers in the Islamic Republic's history, with full authority from the supreme leader and a deep knowledge about all aspects of the nuclear issue."

Picked as foreign minister last year by new President Masoud Pezeshkian, the mild-mannered Araqchi cultivated a reputation as a master of tough negotiations when playing a key role in talks that led to a nuclear agreement in 2015.