Iran says talks with US will continue, but adds distrust to be addressed when Trump

Muscat, Oman — Iran and the United States held indirect talks in Oman on Friday, negotiations that appeared to return to square one on how to approach discussions over Tehran’s nuclear program. But for the first time, the United States brought its top military commander in the Middle East to the negotiating table.

The presence of U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the U.S. military’s Central Command, in his dress uniform at the talks in Muscat, the capital of Oman, served as a reminder that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships were now off Iran’s coast in the Arabian Sea.

President Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to force Iran to reach a deal on the program after previously sending the aircraft carrier to the region over Tehran’s bloody war. repression of protests nationwide which killed thousands and saw tens of thousands more detained in the Islamic Republic. Trump warned Iran that an “army” of US warships deployed in the region could be used, although he said he hoped it would not be necessary.

Gulf Arab nations fear that a US attack could trigger a regional war that would engulf them as well.

That threat is real: US forces shot down an Iranian drone near Lincoln and Iran tried to stop a ship flying the American flag in the Strait of Hormuz just days before Friday’s talks, just north of the coast of Oman, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula.

“We note that nuclear talks and the resolution of major issues should take place in a calm atmosphere, without tension and without threats,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later told reporters.

“The precondition for any dialogue is to refrain from threats and pressure,” he added. “Today we have also explicitly stated this point and we hope that it will be respected so that there is the possibility of continuing talks.”

The United States, represented by U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, had no immediate comment on the talks. Araghchi said the diplomats would return to their capitals, indicating that this round of negotiations was over.

Araghchi offered cautious optimism while speaking in an interview live from Muscat on Iranian state television. He described Friday’s talks as taking place in multiple rounds and said they mainly focused on finding a framework for future negotiations.

“We will hold consultations with our capitals on the next steps and the results will be conveyed to the foreign minister of Oman,” Araghchi said.

“The mistrust that has developed is a serious challenge facing the negotiations,” Araghchi said. “We must first address this issue and then move to the next level of negotiations.”

Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who oversaw multiple rounds of negotiations before Israel launched its 12 day war against Iran In June, he called the talks “useful in clarifying Iranian and American thinking and identifying areas of possible progress.”

Still, Oman described the talks as a means to find “the necessary foundations for the resumption of both diplomatic and technical negotiations,” rather than a step toward reaching a nuclear deal or easing tensions.

They were initially expected to be held in Turkey in a format that would have also included countries in the region and would have included topics such as Tehran’s ballistic missile program, something Iran apparently rejected in favor of focusing solely on its nuclear program.

Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% puritya short and technical step away from weapons grade levels. The International Atomic Energy Agency (the UN’s nuclear watchdog) had said Iran was the only country in the world enriching at that level that was not armed with the bomb.

Iran has been rejecting requests from the IAEA to inspect sites bombed in the June war, raising concerns among nonproliferation experts. Even before that, Iran had restricted IAEA inspections since Trump’s decision in 2018. unilaterally withdraw the United States of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, brokered by the Obama administration.

Friday’s talks included in-person meetings at a palace near Muscat international airport, used by Oman in previous talks between Iran and the United States in 2025. News journalists saw Iranian officials first at the palace and then returning to their hotel before the Americans arrived separately.

It is not yet clear what terms Iran is willing to negotiate in the talks. Tehran has maintained that these talks will only focus on its nuclear program. However, the Al Jazeera satellite news network reported that diplomats from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar offered Iran a proposal in which Tehran would halt enrichment for three years, send its highly enriched uranium out of the country and commit “not to initiate the use of ballistic missiles.”

Russia had signaled it would accept the uranium, but Iran has said ending the program or exporting the uranium was a non-starter.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the talks should include all of those issues.

“I’m not sure a deal can be reached with these guys, but we’re going to try to find out,” he said.