Iran Deal

The U.S. and Iran concluded on Saturday the third round of nuclear talks and agreed to meet again on May 3, said Omani foreign minister Badr Al-Busaidi, who is mediating between the parties.

Why it matters: The talks in Muscat on Saturday were the first time the parties dived into the technical details of a possible nuclear deal, especially the limitations the U.S. wants to impose on Iran's nuclear program and the sanctions Iran wants the U.S. to lift.

The United States has quietly resumed indirect talks with Iran in an effort to constrain Tehran’s nuclear program, multiple sources told CNN.

The talks resumed late last year, months after an effort to revive the Iran nuclear deal collapsed. The Trump administration withdrew from the landmark agreement in 2018 and Iran has increasingly grown its nuclear program in violation of the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The United States is holding talks with Iran to sketch out steps that could limit the Iranian nuclear programme, release some detained U.S. citizens and unfreeze some Iranian assets abroad, Iranian and Western officials said.

These steps would be cast as an "understanding" rather than an agreement requiring review by the U.S. Congress, where many oppose giving Iran benefits because of its military aid to Russia, its domestic repression and its support for proxies that have attacked U.S. interests in the region.

The White House has restarted talks with Iran in an effort to win the release of US detainees and limit Tehran’s nuclear program.

Biden administration officials have traveled to Oman for indirect discussions with their Iranian counterparts at least three times since December, when senior US and Iranian diplomats made contact in New York, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Oil prices spiked to their highest levels since 2008 on Monday amid market supply fears as the United States and European allies considered banning Russian oil imports and prospects for a swift return of Iranian crude to global markets receded.

In the first few minutes of trade Brent crude reached $139.13 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) hit $130.50, both benchmarks striking their highest since July 2008.

By 1204 GMT, prices had eased back, with Brent up 6.3% at $125.55 per and WTI up 6.7% at $123.37.

A U.S. warship destroyed an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between the two countries, President Trump announced Thursday.

“The U.S. reserves the right to defend personnel, facilities, interests,” he said.

Trump said the USS Boxer took defensive action after the drone closed to within 1,000 yards of the warship and ignored multiple calls to stand down. The president called it the latest “hostile” action by Iran.

Within days Iran will exceed the limit on its stockpile of uranium under a 2015 nuclear deal, according to a spokesman for the country's atomic energy agency, who also said Tehran would increase uranium enrichment levels in violation of the agreement, "based on the country's needs."

The remarks come amid increased tension between the U.S. and Iran, particularly after last week's attack on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman that Washington has blamed on Tehran. Iran has denied any involvement.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday scoffed at American demands that his country curb its military ambitions and issued his own set of demands to Europe to remain in the nuclear deal.

In his first speech since U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid out the U.S. strategy against Iran, the Islamic Republic’s most senior leader fired back, threatening to withdraw from the deal and scale up Iran’s nuclear work if Europe didn’t meet seven conditions.

President Trump has shifted the global order with his decision to pull the United States out of the Iranian nuclear agreement, causing a major rift with European allies and raising tensions in the Middle East.