U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held their planned talks in Oman on Friday, despite some last-minute demands from Iran that threatened to derail the process.
Although Araghchi and his Omani hosts described the meeting as “positive,” it did little but establish the “framework” for future discussions, without providing a timetable.
The meeting was originally supposed to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, but Iran demanded a change of venue to Oman at the last minute, along with some other preconditions for the meeting.
The U.S. initially rejected the change of venue and was reportedly prepared to cancel the meeting, but diplomats from several Middle Eastern countries pleaded with the White House to accept Iran’s demands and proceed with the meeting in Oman. U.S. officials said the White House accepted these requests to be “respectful” of America’s regional allies.
Another demand from Tehran that was reluctantly accepted by the U.S. was limiting the meeting to a bilateral discussion of Iran’s nuclear program. The U.S. originally wanted representatives from other regional powers to be involved and for the topics to include Iran’s ballistic missile program and its outrageous slaughter of protesters in January.
Shortly before the meeting in Oman got underway, Iranian state media reported that “one of the country’s most advanced long-range ballistic missiles, the Khorramshahr-4,” was deployed by the terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at one of its huge underground “missile cities.” The missile deployment was taken as a gesture of defiance toward the United States and a signal that the IRGC was prepared to shift to offensive military operations, as the Khorramshahr-4 is ostensibly a long-range, high-speed, high-accuracy weapon.
Iranian state media said the missile deployment “carries a clear message to regional and extra-regional adversaries.”
The U.S. wanted to hold direct talks between Witkoff and Araghchi, but instead the meeting in Oman was “indirect,” meaning they spoke through intermediaries.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said the talks hosted by his government on Friday were “very serious” and helped to “clarify both Iranian and American thinking and identify areas for possible progress.” He expected negotiations to “reconvene in due course,” but did not provide a timetable.
Araghchi said “multiple meetings” were held through intermediaries in Oman, and described the outcome as a “positive framework” for “nuclear talks between Iran and the U.S.”
“It was a good start to the negotiations. And there is an understanding on continuing the talks. Coordination on how to proceed will be decided in the capitals,” he said, meaning Washington and Tehran.
“The prerequisite for any dialogue is to refrain from threats and pressure. We raised this point clearly today and we expect it to be adhered to in order to allow for the continuation of the talks,” he told Iranian media after the discussions were concluded.
“The lack of trust is a huge challenge during the talks and it should be overcome,” he said.
The White House repeated on Thursday that President Donald Trump prefers diplomacy with Iran, but is still prepared to use military force if necessary.
“The president’s diplomacy is always his first option when it comes to dealing with countries all around the world, whether it’s our allies or our adversaries,” said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
“He wants to see if a deal can be struck – and while these negotiations are taking place, I would remind the Iranian regime that the president has many options at his disposal, aside from diplomacy, as the commander in chief of the most powerful military in the history of the world,” she said.
To underscore that point, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Adm. Brad Cooper was reportedly present at the talks in Muscat, Oman, wearing his full dress uniform. President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was also in attendance.
Senior U.S. and Iranian officials said Iran refused demands to halt its enrichment of nuclear fuel at the talks in Oman, but indicated it was willing to keep looking for a “diplomatic solution” to its standoff with the United States.
The White House and State Department made no official comment about the Witkoff-Araghchi meeting as of late Friday morning, nor had President Trump made any statement about the meeting on social media.