For the talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghtschi and the US specialist Steve Witkoff traveled to Oman’s capital Maskat. The spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Bakaei, wrote in online service X that the two delegations had gathered in “separate” rooms and “exchanged their perspectives and points of view” about Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi.
The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said after the meeting that the indirect discussions had taken two and a half hours and took place in a “constructive atmosphere of the mutual respect”. Accordingly, the negotiators of the two hostile states also exchanged “a few minutes”.
US President Donald Trump had repeatedly insisted on direct negotiations in the run-up to the meeting. Washington and Tehran have no longer maintained diplomatic relationships for 45 years.
The white house then described the meeting as “positive and constructive”. The topics are “very complicated”, Witkoff’s “direct communication” with Iran is now “a step forward on the way to a result that is advantageous for both sides”. Both sides would have agreed to “meet again next Saturday”.
Oman’s Foreign Minister Albusaidi said the talks had taken place in a “friendly atmosphere”. Iran and the USA would pursue the “common goal” to conclude a “fair and binding agreement”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Araghtschi later said on Iranian state television, neither Washington nor Tehran wanted negotiations that “drag on” forever. Accordingly, the United States wants a new agreement “as soon as possible”. “It won’t be easy,” said Araghtschi.
According to Tehran, the talks in Maskat dealt with nuclear issues and a relaxation of sanctions. It was the highest ranking discussions since the announcement of the international nuclear agreement with Iran by the United States in 2018.
Western states have been accusing Iran for years to build on nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies. In 2015, Iran signed an international agreement that provided for the relaxation of sanctions in return for a restriction of the Iranian nuclear program.
During Trump’s first presidency, however, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement and imposed new sanctions against Iran. Then Tehran gradually withdrew from his obligations held in the agreement and drove up the enrichment of uranium. Efforts to revive the nuclear agreement has failed since then.
After returning to the White House, Trump pushed Iran to new nuclear talks – and threatens a military approach in the event of failure. A few hours before the planned start of the talks in Oman, Trump said to reporters on board his presidential aircraft Air Force One: “I want Iran to be a wonderful, great and happy country. But they are not allowed to have any nuclear weapons.”
Before the meeting, the US special representative Witkoff had indicated flexibility in the position of the US government. The United States would begin the negotiations with the demand that Iran had to completely dissolve its nuclear program, Witkoff told Wall Street Journal on Friday. However, this does not mean “that we will not find any other way for a compromise”. However, the red line are nuclear weapons.
Iran is economically weakened by the far -reaching sanctions introduced in the course of the termination of the nuclear agreement. According to experts, Iranian leadership hopes to improve the economic situation by loosening the sanctions – even in the face of growing unpopularness among the Iranian population.
Iran is also weakened by Israel’s attacks on its allies in the course of the Gaza War. The Israeli approach to the radical Islamic Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon has added serious losses to the groups. Hamas and Hisbollah, like the Huthi militia in Yemen, belong to the “axis of resistance”, which is led by Iran.
