Nadene Goldfoot
With good intentions, the combo of Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff seems to me to have been wasting their time in Oman on Friday trying to debate with hardened Foreign Minister of Iran, Abbas Araghchi. Jared and Steve also have the Ukraine-Russia War to deal with. Now on the sea the air carrier issue with the Abraham Lincoln;
Is this subject a hot potato? A "hot potato" subject is a highly controversial, sensitive, or risky issue that people avoid discussing or dealing with because it causes strong disagreement and discomfort. Originating in the mid-1800s from "dropping something like a hot potato," it signifies a topic "too hot to handle," such as intense political debates, layoffs, or divisive social issues.
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner’s hours-long talks with Iran in Oman ended Friday with Tehran refusing to budge on nuclear enrichment.
The US responded by immediately ratcheting up sanctions to deliver economic pain to Iran and flexing its military might by flying fighter jets in the Arabian Sea above the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group.
President Trump has been threatening a military bombardment of Iran for weeks after the brutal murder of thousands of anti-regime protesters. The talks on Friday were a chance for diplomacy, but Iran didn’t want to address its ballistic missile stockpile and the regime’s brutality on protesters.
That's my hot potato. Why isn't Trump addressing the Revolution going on in Iran of the young people who find themselves with no water, so unable to grow their own food, have no jobs, nothing to live for under the Ayatollah regime, now holding the last chance they have of rebelling in this Revolution. The Iranian government cut out their internet as well, so it's hard for our ABC, NBC, CBS, but Newsnation seemed to get info about what's happening now. There sat ships giving hope to the people of being supported that did nothing but sit there while 40,000 or more were slaughtered, and Trump proudly bragging how he saved 800 from the hangman.Maybe true, but he could do a heck of a lot more; especially on Friday. What Iran does is shoot to kill people of the Revolution. Israel has been said to be there helping the Revolutionaries.
Iran's top diplomat said on Friday that nuclear talks with the US mediated by Oman were off to a “good start” and set to continue, in remarks that could help allay concern that failure to reach a deal might nudge the Middle East closer to war.
A regional diplomat briefed by Tehran on the talks told Reuters that Iran insisted on its "right to enrich uranium" during the negotiations with the US, but showed openness to discussing the “level and purity” of enrichment or alternative arrangements, including a potential regional consortium.
Abbas has served as the foreign minister of Iran since August 2024. He previously served as the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as the Iranian ambassador to Finland and to Japan. His father died when he was 17. As a teenager, he took part in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, after which he joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, where he served for almost ten years and fought in the Iran–Iraq War.
Araghchi acted as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator in talks with the P5+1, under president Hassan Rouhani leading up to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action between Iran and the United States. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, was an agreement to limit the Iranian nuclear program in return for sanctions relief and other provisions. The agreement was finalized in Vienna on 14 July 2015, between Iran and the P5+1 together with the European Union.
Araghchi holds a Ph.D. in political thought from the University of Kent with a thesis entitled The Evolution of the Concept of Political Participation in Twentieth-Century Islamic Political Thought (1996). Supervised by David McLellan, a scholar of Marxism, the thesis argues that modern Islamic political thought has attempted to reconcile the doctrine of divine sovereignty with the concept of popular sovereignty by incorporating aspects of Western democratic theory into Islamic principles, thereby developing democratic institutions within the framework of Islamic law.
He is fluent in Arabic and English.
We need another PhD educated in political thought with knowledge of nuclear Iran. They need the same level of education from either Princeton, U of California-Berkley, Yale, U of Chicago, U of Notre Dame or Stanford to be good debators or holding their own in such discussions.
Jared Kushner (b: January 10, 1981, age 45, son in law of Donald Trump; Kushner graduated from the Frisch School, a Modern Orthodox yeshiva high school, in 1999 and enrolled at Harvard University in the same year. At Harvard, Kushner was elected into the Fly Club, supported the campus Chabad house led by Hirschy Zarchi,and bought and sold real estate in Somerville, Massachusetts, as a vice president of Somerville Building Associates (a division of Kushner Companies), Kushner graduated from Harvard with honors in 2003, with a B.A. degree in government.
Kushner then enrolled in the JD/MBA dual degree program at the New York University School of Law and New York University Stern School of Business, and graduated with both degrees in 2007. With his yeshiva work, he should be able to hold his own with debating Abbas.
Steve Witkoff, b: March 15, 1957, 68 years old, Education from Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University (1983), Hofstra University (1980)which is a private university located in Hempstead, New York (on Long Island), approximately 25 miles from New York City. It is a suburban, 240-acre campus known for hosting presidential debates and offering a wide range of academic programs.
Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Kushner
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbas_Araghchi
https://www.niche.com/colleges/hofstra-university/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Comprehensive_Plan_of_Action
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