Iranian and American officials will kick off face-to-face talks in Oman today, following weeks of threatened military action by Donald Trump.
The US is sending its Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to the Muscat summit, where he will meet with Tehran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi.
It comes amid a continued American naval build-up near Iran, which Mr Trump has described as an “armada”.
He has repeatedly threatened to take military action since the Iranian regime launched a bloody crackdown against protesters who took to the streets of cities across the country last month.
While his rhetoric has cooled somewhat from its bombastic peak, the White House has maintained that the president remains willing to forego diplomacy.
His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters on Thursday: “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.”
Iran has also threatened to hit back in the event of strikes, which saw the US withdraw some personnel from its large military base in Qatar.
So what’s the point of the talks?
Iran has been in a long-running dispute with the West over its nuclear ambitions.
The regime insists its programme is meant for peaceful, not military purposes, but the US and Israel have accused the regime repeatedly of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry has said it would engage in the talks “with responsibility, realism, and seriousness”, with a willingness to reach a “mutually acceptable and dignified understanding on the nuclear issue”.
An anti-US mural at the former American embassy in Tehran. Pic: Reuters
US secretary of state Marco Rubio has suggested they should cover more ground – including the regime’s arsenal of ballistic missiles, support for armed groups in the wider Middle East, and “treatment of their own people”.
Tehran has flatly ruled out talks on its “defence capabilities, including missiles and their range”.
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An analyst at US thinktank FDD, Edmund Fitton-Brown, said it was “very difficult” to envisage a breakthrough.
Military conflict, therefore, “is more likely than not”, he said.
Iran and US to begin high-stakes talks amid fears of conflict
