Negotiations between Iran, US over Tehran’s nuclear program set to return to Oman
Experts to start work on technical details of any possible deal; US team led by Rubio aide Michael Anton, who does not have nuclear policy experience of those who led 2015 talks
Negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program will return Saturday to the secluded sultanate of Oman, where experts on both sides will start hammering out the technical details of any possible deal.
The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the US has imposed on the Islamic Republic, closing in on half a century of enmity.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to potentially unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached.
Neither Iran nor the US has offered any explanation on why the talks will return to Muscat, the Omani capital. Oman has been a mediator between the countries.
Last weekend’s talks in Rome offered more equal flight distance between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff, who are leading the negotiations.
But Rome remains in mourning after the death of Pope Francis, whose funeral will be Saturday. And Iranian state television, in covering last weekend’s talks, complained at length on air about the “paparazzi” gathered across the street from the Omani Embassy in Rome’s Camilluccia neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Israel is deeply concerned that the US is closing in on a “bad deal” with Iran that will not meet Jerusalem’s stated essential conditions for ensuring the regime cannot attain nuclear weapons, a report said Thursday.
Channel 12 news reported that Israel believes the negotiations are “very, very advanced,” and that the US is not sharing enough information with Israel on key specific issues.
‘Peaceful use of nuclear energy’
The Muscat talks come as Iran appears to have lined up Chinese and Russian support. Araghchi traveled to Moscow last week and this week visited Beijing.
On Thursday, Chinese, Iranian and Russian representatives met the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog that likely will verify compliance with any accord like it did with Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. That deal included China and Russia, as well as France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
However, Iran has greatly restricted the IAEA’s inspections — leading to fears internationally that centrifuges and other nuclear material could be diverted.
The IAEA offered no readout from the talks, but China’s state-run Xinhua news agency on Friday described the three nations as saying the agency has “the necessary potential and expertise to contribute constructively to this process.”
“China, Russia and Iran emphasized that political and diplomatic engagement based on mutual respect remains the only viable and practical path for resolving the Iran nuclear issue,” the report said. It added that China respects Iran’s “right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.”
The Trump administration has kept France, Germany and the UK out of its direct negotiations with Iran, something similarly reflected in Witkoff’s negotiations with Russia over ending its war on Ukraine. Witkoff traveled Friday to Moscow ahead of Saturday’s meeting in Muscat.
Araghchi, meanwhile, has said he’s open to visiting Berlin, London and Paris to discuss the negotiations.
“The ball is now in the E3’s court,” Araghchi wrote on the social platform X on Thursday, using an acronym for the countries. “They have an opportunity to do away with the grip of Special Interest groups and forge a different path.”
US stance on enrichment hardens
Two Iranian deputy foreign ministers, Majid Takht-e Ravanchi and Kazem Gharibabadi, are expected to lead Tehran’s expert team, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported. Takht-e Ravanchi took part in the 2015 nuclear talks, while Gharibabadi has well as been involved in atomic negotiations.
The US technical team, which is expected to arrive in Oman on Friday, will be led by Michael Anton, the director of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s policy planning staff. Anton does not have the nuclear policy experience of those who led America’s efforts in the 2015 talks.
However, he was an early supporter of Trump, describing the 2016 election as a “charge the cockpit or you die” vote. “A Hillary Clinton presidency is Russian Roulette with a semi-auto,” Anton wrote. “With Trump, at least you can spin the cylinder and take your chances.” He also criticized “Iran sycophancy” in the same essay.
Rubio, speaking on a podcast released this week, also kept up the line that Iran needed to stop its enrichment of uranium entirely.
“If Iran wants a civil nuclear program, they can have one just like many other countries can have one, and that is they import enriched material,” Rubio said.
However, former CIA director Bill Burns, who took part in the secret negotiations that led to the 2015 nuclear deal, expressed skepticism Iran would give up its program like Libya did in 2003.
“I don’t personally think that this Iranian regime is going to agree to…zero domestic enrichment,” Burns said in a talk Monday at the University of Chicago. “To hold out for the Libya model is virtually to ensure that you’re not going to be able to reach an agreement.”
But Iran has insisted that keeping its enrichment is key. Witkoff also has muddied the issue by first suggesting in a television interview that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later saying that all enrichment must stop.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program, and just a short technical step away from weapons-grade material.
Israeli officials have vowed to prevent Tehran, which openly calls for Israel’s destruction, from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that any negotiation with Iran must lead to the complete dismantling of its nuclear program.
From Israel’s perspective, this may be a good moment for a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Iran allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon have been hammered by Israel since the Gaza war began, sparked by the Palestinian terror group’s October 7 onslaught, while the Houthi movement in Yemen has been targeted by US airstrikes. Israel also severely damaged Iran’s air defense systems in retaliatory strikes after Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack in October 2024.
On Monday, Israel’s military conducted drills preparing for possible new Iranian missile attacks, the Kan public broadcaster reported.
“Our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response,” Araghchi wrote on Wednesday in a post on X.
The Times of Israel Community.