Iran and US to begin nuclear talks in Oman today

Qatar – (Web Desk) – Iran and the United States are set to hold talks in Oman on Friday, as Washington assesses whether there is any chance of diplomatic progress on Iran’s nuclear programme and other key issues, while not ruling out the use of military force.

The talks—confirmed by both sides late Wednesday after uncertainty over the venue, timing, and format—will mark the first direct engagement between the two rivals since the US joined Israel’s war against Iran in June, carrying out strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, are expected to lead their respective delegations in the negotiations, hosted by Oman, a Gulf state that has often acted as a mediator between Tehran and Washington.

Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported late Thursday that Araghchi had arrived in Muscat. Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign ministry said it had a responsibility to pursue diplomacy to preserve peace, expressing hope that the US would take part in the talks with seriousness, realism, and responsibility.

The meeting comes just under a month after the peak of a wave of nationwide protests in Iran against the clerical leadership, which rights groups say were repressed with an unprecedented crackdown that has left thousands dead.

“They’re negotiating,” Trump said of Iran on Thursday.

“They don’t want us to hit them, we have a big fleet going there,” he added, referring to the aircraft carrier group he has repeatedly called an “armada”.

Trump initially threatened military action against Tehran over its crackdown on protesters and even told demonstrators “help is on its way”.

But his rhetoric in recent days has focused on reining in the Iranian nuclear programme, which the West fears is aimed at making a bomb.

US Vice President JD Vance told SiriusXM in an interview broadcast Wednesday that Trump would “keep his options open”.

“He is going to talk to everybody, he is going to try to accomplish what he can through non-military means and if he feels like the military is the only option then he is ultimately going to choose that,” Vance said.

– ‘Inflexibility’ towards US demands –

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking in the Qatari capital Doha, urged Iran’s leadership to “truly enter talks”, saying there was a “great fear of military escalation in the region”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted by Turkish newspapers as saying: “So far, I see that the parties want to make room for diplomacy,” adding that conflict was “not the solution”.

There had been tensions in the run-up to the talks over whether the meeting should also include regional countries and address Tehran’s support of proxies and its ballistic missile programmes, two US concerns that Iran resisted.

Citing unnamed Iranian officials, the New York Times said the United States agreed the talks would exclude regional actors, and while the meeting would focus on the nuclear issue, it would also discuss missiles and militant groups “with the goal of coming up with a framework for a deal”.

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“Iran continues to show inflexibility toward addressing US demands, which reduces the likelihood that Iran and the United States will be able to reach a diplomatic solution,” the US-based Institute for the Study of War said.

With the American threats of military action still looming, the United States has maneuvered a naval group led by aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln into the region, while Iran has repeatedly vowed it will hit back at US bases if attacked.

“We are ready to defend and it is the US president who must choose between compromise or war,” state television on Thursday quoted army spokesman General Mohammad Akraminia as saying, warning that Iran has “easy” access to US regional bases.