Trump's Son-in-Law Attends US-Iran Talks, Pushing for Nuclear Enrichment Transfer to Russia
The US and Iran are beginning negotiations to transfer Iran's enriched nuclear fuel to Russia through talks, with President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, attending.
The New York Times and Uraktiv, citing multiple sources, reported on the 2nd that "an agreement was reached between the US special envoy and the Iranian foreign minister during a meeting on the 6th in Istanbul."
The agreement appears to have involved a tentative approach to Iran's creation of a "regional consortium" for nuclear power generation, as proposed by the US last year, and the transfer of Iran's nuclear enrichment to Russia.
According to sources and Iranian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, Iranian Foreign Minister Aragqchi and Trump's Middle East envoy, Witkov, have been "communicating directly via text message."
Officials on both sides have indicated that Iran is willing to suspend or halt its nuclear program to defuse the situation, and told the NYT that "the US prefers the creation of a regional consortium for nuclear power generation, as proposed last year."
The two officials said Iran's National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent days and conveyed a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Iran could agree to ship enriched uranium to Russia, consistent with the 2015 deal.
Senior U.S. and Iranian officials said the Istanbul meeting on Thursday is expected to include Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, with senior officials from Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt also expected to attend.
Yuraktiv reported on Telegram that <Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Turkey last week and held additional phone calls with diplomats from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey>, and <Minister Araghchi told CNN on the 1st, "President Trump said a ban on nuclear weapons, and we completely agree. That could be a very good deal. Of course, we expect sanctions to be lifted in return. So, that deal is possible. Let's not talk about the impossible.">
The New York Times reported on the 2nd that <When asked about this possibility, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry S. Peskov said on the 2nd, "This topic has been on the agenda for a long time, and Russia continues to work and contact all stakeholders." <Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is for producing energy, not bombs, and Minister Araghchi said Iran is open to negotiations.> "We have never lost the opportunity to secure the rights of the Iranian people through diplomacy," Foreign Minister Araghchi told Foreign Ministry staff in a video shared on social media on the 2nd.
The New York Times reported that, "In a reflection of a broader regional push, one regional official who confirmed the planned meeting in Istanbul suggested that the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Pakistan could also participate."
Witkoff, the Middle East envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, visited Moscow on February 23rd and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Following the envoys' visit, the Kremlin announced on February 30th that Putin, at the personal request of US President Donald Trump, had agreed to a week-long moratorium on airstrikes on Kyiv until February 1st to create "favorable conditions" for peace talks.
Trump said the day before, on the 29th, that Putin had agreed to refrain from firing on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities for a week due to cold weather, but did not specify when that period would expire.
The US envoy's meeting in the Kremlin on the 23rd was accompanied by Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who last met with Putin at the Kremlin in early December, as well as Josh Gruenbaum,
Trump's newly appointed senior adviser to the Peace Council. This council, which Trump became the sole chair of at the Davos Forum, is expected to aim to resolve global conflicts.
Immediately following the meeting, the Kremlin announced that it would hold trilateral security talks with the US and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, but the talks collapsed. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described the talks, which began just before midnight on the 23rd and lasted about four hours, as "substantive, constructive, and very frank," and told reporters that "President Vladimir Putin and three US special envoys warned that sustainable peace is impossible unless the territorial issue is resolved after a late-night meeting."
During the first Trump administration,
Kushner's son-in-law was directly involved in establishing a $5 billion Gaza "reconstruction fund" and signing the Abraham Accords, a strategy to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. During the second Trump administration, he is pursuing a luxury villa development project in Gaza.
In establishing the Gaza "reconstruction fund," Kushner showed interest in the Singaporean private equity fund that facilitated the CIA-led North Korea-US summit during the first Trump administration's administration's strategy to "turn the Wonsan area into a tourist destination."
He attended the Trump-Kim Jong-un summit at Panmunjom with Trump's daughter without North Korea's prior consent and greeted Chairman Kim Jong-un, which then-President Bolton objected to. The National Security Advisor protested, went straight from Seoul to Australia, resigned shortly thereafter, and was indicted for leaking classified documents during an FBI raid on his home during his second term.
President Lee Jae-myung officially nominated President Trump for the Nobel Prize in July of last year, ahead of the summit. Private equity fund Blackrock Oh spearheaded the KOSPI 5000 strategy in April, arguing for a Trump-Kim summit. The initial US investment strategy, which relied on $350 billion in overseas collateralized loans backed by Blackrock Oh, appears to have stalled after President Trump's "all-cash investment" put the brakes on the North Korea-US summit.