- White House reiterates Trump has ‘many options at his disposal’ as Islamic Republic insists talks focus only on nuclear issues, not ballistic missiles or support for terror proxies
Iran and the United States were set to hold high-stakes negotiations in Oman on Friday over Tehran’s nuclear program, but a dispute over the agenda, most notably differences over Iran’s formidable missile program, suggests progress will be hard-won, with the threat of another Middle East war looming.
The talks were originally due to begin at 10 a.m. local time (8 a.m. Israel time), but Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency reported that they were pushed back by about an hour.
While both sides have signaled readiness to revive diplomacy, Washington wants the talks to cover Iran’s nuclear program, its ballistic missiles, support for proxy terror groups around the region and “treatment of their own people,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday. The talks follow a bloody Iranian crackdown on mass anti-regime protests last month.
Iran has said it wants Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss only the nuclear issue in Muscat. Iranian media reported that Araghchi met with his Omani counterpart, Badr al-Busaidi, ahead of the negotiations.
In a statement on Friday, Araghchi appeared to refer to the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, when the United States struck Iranian nuclear targets toward the end of the fighting. The talks — finally confirmed by both sides late Wednesday after uncertainty over the location, timing and format — will be the first such encounter between the two foes since the war.
“Iran enters diplomacy with open eyes and a steady memory of the past year. We engage in good faith and stand firm on our rights,” Araghchi said on X on Friday. “Commitments need to be honored. Equal standing, mutual respect and mutual interest are not rhetoric — they are a must and the pillars of a durable agreement.”
Israel targeted Iran’s nuclear program, missile production and military leadership during the war. Tehran has since said its uranium enrichment work has stopped.
Tehran’s leadership remains deeply concerned that US President Donald Trump may carry out his threats to strike Iran amid a buildup of forces by the US Navy near the country. The buildup followed Iran’s crackdown on protests, in which rights groups say they have verified thousands of deaths, adding that the true toll may be far higher.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday told reporters that Trump was looking to determine whether a deal can be struck, but also issued a warning.
“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 added.
Trump has warned that “bad things” could happen if a deal cannot be reached, ratcheting up pressure on the Islamic Republic.
US officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio believe Iran’s theocracy is now at its weakest point since its 1979 Islamic Revolution after the protests. With the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships in the region along with more fighter jets, the US now likely has the military firepower to launch an attack if it wanted.
But whether attacks could be enough to force Iran to change its ways — or potentially topple its government — remains far from a sure thing.
Meanwhile, Gulf Arab nations fear an attack could spark a regional war, dragging them in as well. That threat is real — already, US forces shot down an Iranian drone near the Lincoln and Iran attempted to stop a US-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has warned it would respond harshly to any military strike, striking Israel as well as US targets, and has cautioned neighboring countries hosting US bases that they could be in the firing line if they were involved in an attack.
“It’s very difficult to see them conceding enough in talks tomorrow for the US credibly to be able to claim that it’s made a breakthrough. And this is where I think military conflict is more likely than not,” Edmund Fitton-Brown, senior fellow at Washington-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said.
Negotiators in Oman will have to navigate Iran’s red line on discussing its missile program to reach a deal and avert future military action.
Tehran, which launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israeli cities during the June war, killing 32 people and wounding thousands, has flatly ruled out talks on its “defense capabilities, including missiles and their range.”
Hours before the talks, Iran’s state TV said that “one of the country’s most advanced long-range ballistic missiles, the Khorramshahr 4,” had been deployed at one of the Revolutionary Guards’ vast underground missile complexes.
However, Tehran is willing to show “flexibility on uranium enrichment, including handing over 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and accepting zero enrichment under a consortium arrangement as a solution,” Iranian officials told Reuters last week. Iran also insists that its right to enrich uranium is non-negotiable.
Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Prior to the June war, Israel said Iran had recently taken steps toward weaponization.
Tehran’s influence throughout the region has been severely weakened by Israel’s attacks on its regional terror proxies, known as the “Axis of Resistance,” from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq, as well as by the ousting of Iran’s close ally, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, in late 2024.
BY: The Times Union
