Iran and the United States are set to engage in high-level talks in Oman on Saturday aimed at jump-starting negotiations over Tehran’s fast-advancing nuclear programme, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening military action if there is no deal.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was leading Iran’s delegation while the talks on the U.S. side were being handled by Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
In a post on X by the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei said Each delegation had their separate room and would exchange messages as “Indirect talks between Iran and the United States with the mediation of the Omani foreign minister have began.
Iran had approached the talks warily, sceptical that they could lead to a deal and suspicious of Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran if it does not halt its escalating uranium enrichment programme.
While each side has talked up the chances of some progress, they remain far apart on a dispute that has rumbled on for more than two decades and have not agreed on whether the talks will be face-to-face, as Trump demands, or indirect, as Iran wants.
Ahead of the start of the talks – the first between Iran and a Trump administration, including Trump’s first term in 2017-21 – Araqchi met with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi in Muscat to present Tehran’s “key points and positions to be conveyed to the U.S. side”, Iranian state media reported.
Signs of progress 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 neighbouring countries that have U.S. bases that they would face severe consequences if they were involved in any U.S. military attack on Iran.
“There is a chance for initial understanding on further negotiations if the other party (U.S.) 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. “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
