Iran and the United States began high-level talks in Oman on Saturday in the Omani capital, Muscat, aimed at jump-starting negotiations over Tehran’s fast-advancing nuclear program, with US President Donald Trump threatening military action if there is no deal.
A member of Iran’s delegation was quoted by Iranian state-affiliated media Tasnim as saying the talks with the US are being held in a “positive atmosphere.”
The talks are focused on de-escalating regional tensions, prisoner exchanges, and limited agreements to ease sanctions in exchange for controlling Iran’s nuclear program, an Omani source told Reuters on Saturday.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi is leading the Iranian delegation, while the talks are handled on the US side by Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
“Indirect talks between Iran and the United States with the mediation of the Omani foreign minister have started,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei posted on X.
Each delegation had their separate room and would exchange messages via Oman’s foreign minister, Baghaei said.
Iran is approaching the talks warily, skeptical that they could lead to a deal and suspicious of Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran if it does not halt its nuclear program.
Iranian state television posted a video on its website of Araqchi meeting with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi in Muscat.
“As part of Iran-US indirect talks, Araqchi provided his Omani counterpart with Tehran’s key points and positions to be conveyed to the US side,” Iranian state media reported.
Signs of movement could help cool tensions in a region aflame since 2023 with wars in Gaza and Lebanon, missile fire between Iran and Israel, Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping and the overthrow of the government in Syria.
However, failure would aggravate fears of a wider conflagration across a region that exports much of the world’s oil. Tehran has cautioned neighboring countries that have US bases that they would face “severe consequences” if they were involved in any US military attack on Iran.
“There is a chance for initial understanding on further negotiations if the other party (US) enters the talks with an equal stance,” Araqchi told Iranian TV.
He said it was too early to comment on the duration of the talks, the first between Iran and a Trump administration, including his first term in 2017-21.
“This is the first meeting, and in it, many fundamental and initial issues will be clarified,” Araqchi said, “including, whether there is sufficient will on both sides, then we will make a decision on a timeline.”
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who in the Islamic Republic’s complex power structure has the final say on key state matters, has given Araqchi “full authority” for the talks, an Iranian official told Reuters.
“The duration of the talks, that will only be about the nuclear issue, will depend on the US side’s seriousness and goodwill,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Iran has ruled out negotiating its defense capabilities such as its missile program.
Decades-long dispute
Iran has always maintained its nuclear program is intended for purely civilian purposes but Western countries believe it wants to build an atomic bomb.
They say Iran’s enrichment of uranium, a nuclear fuel source, has gone far beyond the requirements of a civilian program and has produced stocks at a level of fissile purity close to those required in warheads.
Trump, who has restored a “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran since February, ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers in 2018 during his first term, reimposing crippling sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Since then, Iran’s nuclear program has leaped forward, including by enriching uranium to 60%, a technical step from the levels needed for a bomb.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday he hoped that the talks would lead to peace, adding that “We’ve been very clear what Iran is never going to have a nuclear weapon, and I think that’s what led to this meeting.”
Tehran responded the following day, saying it was giving the United States a “genuine chance” despite what it called Washington’s “prevailing confrontational hoopla.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which regards Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat, has long threatened to attack Iran if diplomacy fails to curb its nuclear ambitions.
Tehran’s influence throughout the Middle East has been severely curbed, with its regional allies – known as the “Axis of Resistance” – either dismantled or badly hurt since the start of the Hamas-Israel conflict in Gaza and the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria in December.
The Axis includes not only Hamas but also Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and various Shi’ite armed groups in Iraq and Syria.
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