Talks between the US and Iran, scheduled for Friday, have moved from Türkiye to Oman upon Tehran’s request to restrict negotiations to its nuclear program, a regional official told Reuters.
The official added that Iran is also seeking strictly bilateral talks with the US, effectively sidelining several Arab and Muslim countries that had previously been invited to the negotiations in Türkiye.
Iran wants the talks to be a continuation of previous rounds held in Oman, which focused on its nuclear program, as Tehran insists it will not make concessions regarding its ballistic missile program.
Washington, on the other hand, has set three preconditions to resume talks: zero enrichment of uranium in Iran, limits on Tehran’s ballistic missile program and an end to its support for regional proxies.
“We are negotiating with them right now,” US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
US-Iran talks are expected to take place between Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, with sources indicating that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will also join the negotiations.
As tensions mount between Washington and Tehran, a US F-35C fighter jet shot down an Iranian Shahed-139 drone that “aggressively” approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Tuesday.
The Iranian Fars news agency said that an Iranian drone had completed a “surveillance mission in international waters” before connection was lost for an unknown reason.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) approached a US-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to seize it.
“Two IRGC boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone approached M/V Stena Imperative at high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker,” CENTCOM said.
