The United States and Iran began the third round of their current cycle of indirect nuclear talks in Geneva, Switzerland on Thursday, under the looming threat of U.S. military action and Iran’s belligerent threats to respond with attacks across the Middle East.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) held military drills on Tuesday, reportedly including tests for new weapons, even as top military official Ali Larijani was preparing to deliver Iran’s latest response in negotiations with the United States, and President Donald Trump was preparing to deliver his State of the Union (SOTU) address.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday that the latest round of talks with the United States in Geneva yielded a mutual understanding of “guiding principles” for even more talks.
Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claims his military has weapons capable of sending an American aircraft carrier “to the bottom of the sea.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared on Monday that he had arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, with “real ideas” for an agreement between his country and the United States as Tehran and Washington tiptoe towards a renewed conversation on the former’s illicit nuclear program.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that he viewed recent talks with the United States as “a step forward,” but his foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, insisted on the same day that Iran will never give up its uranium enrichment program.
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.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist organization, said on Thursday that it seized two vessels in the Persian Gulf that were allegedly carrying smuggled fuel. Later that day, a former Iranian official threatened to turn the Strait of Hormuz into a “place of massacre and hell” if there is a conflict with the United States.
The Iranian regime seems to be doing everything possible to derail Friday’s scheduled talks between Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, including last-minute demands for a change of venue from Turkey to Oman.
The U.S. has taken some steps across the Middle East over the past few days that could indicate preparations for an operation against Iran, although they could also be acts of simple prudence or feints.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denied reports that Iran has proposed “direct” nuclear talks with the United States, and possibly even a meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian.
The Houthi insurgents of Yemen confirmed they have reached an agreement with the U.S. to “pause” their attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea, in exchange for a pause in U.S. airstrikes on Houthi positions in Yemen.
U.S. officials have reportedly scheduled a third round of talks with Iranian representatives in Oman, following what both American and Iranian sources described as a successful second round of nuclear negotiations in Rome on Saturday.
The White House says Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff had “very positive and constructive” talks with Iran on Saturday.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Friday pledged to give high-level nuclear talks with the United States this weekend a “genuine chance” to succeed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the talks would take place on Saturday in Oman.
Representatives of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) met in Qatar with M23 insurgents last week to discuss a ceasefire.
Iranian state media said on Tuesday that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will meet with Trump administration envoy Steve Witkoff in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on Saturday.
The Etlaq spaceport in Oman announced on Thursday that it plans to conduct five rocket launches in 2025, beginning in April. The spaceport will provide a “fan zone” for spectators to watch the launches.
The Biden administration on Monday transferred 11 Yemeni prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Oman, reducing the total number of detainees remaining at Guantanamo to 15. The facility held around 800 detainees at peak population.
On Monday’s edition of NBC’s “Hallie Jackson Now,” NBC News Correspondent Courtney Kube reported that the Biden administration planned to transfer the eleven Guantanamo Bay detainees that were transferred to Oman on Monday back in 2023, but officials were worried about
The Biden administration released 11 Yemeni terrorists, who were captured after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, from Guantanamo Bay.
Terrorists opened fire on a Shiite mosque outside of Muscat, Oman, launching a ten-hour siege that concluded with at least nine dead.
Even more attacks on trade, the lifeblood of the West, this time off the coast of Iran in the Gulf of Oman.
Britain “won’t hesitate” to join the U.S. and take “direct action” against Houthis in Yemen its Defence Secretary has said.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) of China deployed a task force of six warships to the Middle East over the past week.
The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) issued a warning Monday after a 28-year-old man tested positive for the potentially fatal Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in a city in Abu Dhabi on the border with Oman.
The Houthi-run Saba Yemen News Agency revealed on Sunday that a delegation from Saudi Arabia, accompanied by diplomats from Oman, met senior Houthi leaders in the occupied capital, Sana’a, for peace talks.
An armed drone struck a Liberian-flagged oil tanker named Pacific Zircon off the coast of Oman on Tuesday night.
MUSCAT – A wave of foreign imitations and alternative styles has prompted Oman to take tough action to preserve its unique national dress, threatening thousands of dollars in fines for men who wear the wrong sort of dishdasha.
Iran was behind a deadly drone attack last month on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman, a U.S Defense Department team concluded Saturday.
FUJAIRAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) – The hijackers who captured a vessel off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman departed the targeted ship on Wednesday, the British navy reported, as recorded radio traffic appeared to reveal a crew member onboard saying Iranian gunmen had stormed the asphalt tanker.
The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ drone command was behind the attack on the Israel-operated oil tanker off the coast of Oman, senior Israeli ministers told diplomats from U.N. Security Council member states on Wednesday.
The UKMTO warned of a “potential hijack” of a ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman, without elaborating.
The U.S., UK and Romania said Sunday they believed Iran carried out an attack on an Israeli-owned oil tanker off the coast of Oman on Thursday that killed a Briton and a Romanian, with the UK corroborating Israel’s claim a day earlier that there is proof of Tehran’s culpability.
Another U.S.-brokered normalization deal between Israel and an Arab country is expected to be signed in the “next day or two,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft said in an interview with Al-Arabiya Wednesday.
At least five or six countries are ready to make peace with Israel, President Donald Trump said at a press briefing alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the signing of the historic normalization between the Jewish state, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Oman on Sunday welcomed the normalization deal between Bahrain and Israel, saying it hopes it will contribute to peace throughout the region, state media reported.
OMAN — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrapped up his trip to the Middle East and Sudan with a stop in Oman on Thursday to meet with Omani Sultan Haithambin Tarik Al Said.
Arab Gulf states and Israel agree extending a U.N. arms embargo against Iran is of critical importance, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, after announcing his country’s intention to introduce a resolution at the Security Council.
TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday extended his condolences on the passing of Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said, describing the late leader as a “noble soul” and “promoter of peace.”