Nuclear talks between Iran and the United States will take place on Friday in Oman, the Iranian foreign minister said, as tensions remain high following Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced the meeting on Wednesday after hours of signs that the anticipated talks were faltering over changes to the format and content.
US President Donald Trump sent a blunt warning to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ahead of the talks. “I would say he should be very worried,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News.
Earlier Wednesday, a regional official said Iran sought a “different” meeting than that proposed by Turkey — one focused exclusively on Iran’s nuclear programme with participation limited to Iran and the United States. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.
The Trump administration confirmed the US will take part in high-level talks with Iran in Oman instead of Turkey as originally planned, a White House official said. The official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said several Arab and Muslim leaders urged the Trump administration not to walk away from talks even as Iranian officials pressed to narrow the scope and change the venue.
The official added the White House remains “very skeptical” the talks will be successful but agreed to the change out of respect for regional allies.
Tensions spiked after Trump suggested the US might use force against Iran in response to the crackdown on protesters. Trump has also been pushing Tehran for a deal to constrain its nuclear program.
Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday he had instructed the foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the US, the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate. That signalled the move is supported by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state and had previously dismissed negotiations.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US hoped to discuss concerns beyond the nuclear issue, including Iran’s ballistic missiles, support for proxy networks across the region and the “treatment of their own people.”
“The leadership of Iran at the clerical level does not reflect the people of Iran. I know of no other country where there’s a bigger difference between the people who lead the country and the people who live there,” he told reporters.
Vice President J D Vance told “The Megyn Kelly Show” that diplomatic talks with Iran are challenging because of Tehran’s political system, overseen by Khamenei. “It’s a very weird country to conduct diplomacy with when you can’t even talk to the person who’s in charge of the country. That makes all of this much more complicated, and it makes the whole situation much more absurd,” Vance said, noting Trump could speak directly by phone with the leaders of Russia, China or North Korea.
Vance said Trump’s bottom line is that Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, asserting other states in the region would quickly do the same. Iran has long insisted its nuclear programme is peaceful, though Iranian officials in recent years have increasingly threatened to pursue the bomb. Vance said he believed Trump would first try to “accomplish what he can through non-military means. And if he feels like the military is the only option, then he’s ultimately going to choose that option.”
On Tuesday, a US Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that approached an American aircraft carrier. Iranian fast boats from its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard also tried to stop a US-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the Navy said. Iran did not immediately acknowledge either incident, which strained but apparently did not derail hopes for talks with the US.
On Wednesday, Iranian military chiefs visited a missile base to highlight its military readiness after a 12-day war with Israel in June devastated Iran’s air defences. The base holds the Khorramshahr missile, which has a range of more than 2,000 kilometres and was launched towards Israel during the war last year.
Also Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated Turkey’s opposition to foreign intervention in neighbouring Iran, calling for issues to be resolved through dialogue. Turkey has been urgently working to bring the US and Iran to the negotiating table and was previously expected to host the talks.
“We believe that external interventions involving our neighbour Iran would pose significant risks for the entire region,” Erdogan said during a visit to Cairo. “Resolving issues with Iran, including the nuclear file, through diplomatic means is the most appropriate approach.”
