'US Imperialism is Trapped': US & Iranian Officials Reportedly Held Talks on Nuclear Program

According to the recent report, one of the main messages that the US conveyed to Iran was regarding nuclear deterrence.

Last month, US and Iranian officials held indirect talks in Oman to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program and other issues, according to a recent report from an American news source. The talks represent the first indirect engagement between the US and Iran, after White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk traveled to Oman secretly on May 8 for the talks with Omani officials.

During the talks, the US “made it clear that Iran will pay a heavy price” should they acquire 90% uranium enrichment, sources said.

Dr. Gerald Horne, who holds the John Jay and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African-American studies at the University of Houston, joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour on Monday. Horne suggested that US imperialism is “trapped” following an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.

“What you see is that US imperialism is trapped, it wants to focus on China, but it's bogged down in Ukraine now is on the verge of being bogged down in Iran and West Asia more generally,” said Horne. “If there is a further escalation of this crisis, do not expect the Iranians to give the Israelis and their US ally a head's up.”

“Israel has a problem in Gaza with a tattered global image, and so they decided to enlarge the problem, by, on April 1st attacking the Iranian legation in Syria. Iran, obviously, had the right to reply and respond and has done so in a measured manner.”

“But, now we see uber hawks like John Bolton, the former [former US President Donald] Trump national security adviser, suggesting that the US seize the opportunity in league with Israel to try to inflict a major blow on the Iranian nuclear program and perhaps even overthrow the regime, which has been a fond wish of the uber hawks for decades now. That, of course, could bring this entire small planet to the cusp of World War III, and, I'm afraid to say that that may not necessarily deter or detain Israel,” Horne said.

Sputnik’s Garland Nixon noted that about three quarters of American voters aged 18 to 29 disapprove of the way US President Joe Biden is handling the Gaza war, citing recent polls.

Recent polls also found that overall, registered voters say they favor Trump over Biden, for the upcoming US presidential election, by about two percentage points. About 46% of registered voters said they trust the job of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Trump compared to 38 who said the same about Biden.

“The left of the Democratic Party has adopted the Palestinian question as a cause to be reckoned with. And this brings up the contradictions in US mainstream politics because, obviously, whenever folks on the left talk about trying to form a third party, they're hammered into line, bludgeoned into submission, told that they must stay within the ranks of the Democratic Party,” Horne explained. “Now this particular issue of Palestine is helping to tear the Democratic Party apart.”