US, Iran to Hold Nuclear Talks in Oman on Saturday

Ailin Vilches Arguello

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The Iranian and US flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken Jan. 27, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

The US and Iran have confirmed they will hold high-level nuclear negotiations this weekend, as Washington continues to pressure Tehran to strike a deal amid escalating regional tensions.

“Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday in a social media post.

“It is as much an opportunity as it is a test,” Araghchi wrote on X. “The ball is in America’s court.” 

On Monday, US President Donald Trump announced that both countries are trying to negotiate a deal, with talks set to take place in Oman’s capital, Muscat.

“We’re having direct talks with Iran, and they’ve started,” Trump told reporters while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. “There’s a major meeting going on between us and Iran that will take place on Saturday, and it will be top level.”

US and Iranian officials have put out contradictory statements about whether the talks will be direct or indirect, the latter of which would involve Omani mediators passing messages between the sides.

“I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

He added, “If it can be done diplomatically in a full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing. … Hopefully, those talks will be successful.”

According to Iranian state media, the negotiations will be led by Araghchi and US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, with Oman’s Foreign Minister, Badr Albusaidi, serving as a mediator, as the country has long been a channel for communication between the two adversaries.

Tehran has previously said that the country’s missile program would be off limits in any nuclear discussions.

Last week, Trump threatened to bomb Iran and impose secondary tariffs if Tehran does not reach an agreement with Washington to curb its nuclear program.

In response to the White House’s military threats, Iran issued notices to Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, and Bahrain, warning that any support for a US attack on Iran — including the use of their airspace or territory by American forces — would be considered an act of hostility.

During his first term, Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 nuclear deal — known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — between Iran and several world powers, which had imposed temporary limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

Addressing Washington’s military threats, Araghchi said last week that Iran has always complied with the nuclear deal and never sought to develop nuclear weapons, stressing that military action against the country is not a viable option.

“10 years after signing the JCPOA — and 7 years after the US unilaterally walked away from it — there is not ONE SHRED OF PROOF that Iran has violated this commitment,” Araghchi wrote in a post on X. “Diplomatic engagement worked in the past and can still work. BUT, it should be clear to all that there is — by definition — no such thing as a ‘military option’ let alone a ‘military solution.’” 

At the White House on Monday, Netanyahu said that the US and Israel are “united in the goal that Iran does not ever get nuclear weapons.”

“If it can be done diplomatically in a full way, the way that it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing,” the Israeli top official said. “But whatever happens, we have to make sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons.”

He explained that the Libyan style would involve the US intervening in Iran, overseeing the destruction of Iran’s nuclear installations and the dismantling of equipment. However, Netanyahu also mentioned that military action was discussed as a secondary option if diplomacy fails.

“The second possibility, that will not be, is that they drag out the talks and then there is the military option,” he said in a statement after his meeting with Trump. “Everyone understands this. We spoke about this at length.”

Even though Tehran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has warned that Iran is “dramatically” accelerating uranium enrichment to up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent weapons-grade level and enough to build six nuclear bombs.

Tehran has repeatedly claimed that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes rather than weapon development.

However, Western states have said there is no “credible civilian justification” for the country’s recent nuclear activity, arguing it “gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons.”

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