Gulf states slam Iran deal as Rubio heads to Gulf to calm allies

Several Gulf states have sent Washington a message calling the emerging agreement with Iran “very bad,” according to a report by Suleiman Maswadeh on Tuesday on Channel 13 News. The criticism is not limited to Israel, with Gulf officials also saying the deal would strengthen the ayatollahs’ rule. Qatar is leading the Arab side of the talks, alongside other Arab states that have been badly affected by Iran.

To ease tensions with American allies, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to travel on a special mission to the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait. His goal is to reassure them that the memorandum of understanding is not final and that it can be scrapped if the Iranians fail to comply.

The ambiguity around the understanding continues. After Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Tehran would not allow the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, to visit nuclear sites damaged during the war, contradicting remarks by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, President Donald Trump dismissed what he called “false statements” and said: “Iran agreed to nuclear monitoring at the highest level, in a full and complete way, forever.”

Meanwhile, Iranian officials said Tuesday morning that the technical talks between delegations in Switzerland had ended. A deputy foreign minister said four joint working groups had been formed to handle sanctions relief, nuclear weapons issues and the country’s economic reconstruction. Further rounds of talks at the senior diplomatic level will be scheduled later.