DUBAI:
The United States and Iran will hold talks in Oman on Friday after Tehran requested a change of venue to limit negotiations to its nuclear program, a regional official said, as the buildup of US forces in the Middle East raises fears of a confrontation.
Iran wanted the meeting to take place in Oman as a continuation of earlier rounds of talks held in the Gulf Arab country over its nuclear program, calling for a change of location from Turkey to avoid any expansion of discussions to issues such as Tehran’s ballistic missiles, the regional official said.
Iran has said it will make no concessions on its formidable ballistic missile program, one of the largest in the Middle East, calling it a red line in negotiations. Tehran, which says it has replenished its ballistic missile arsenal since it was attacked by Israel last year, has warned it will use its missiles to defend the Islamic Republic if its security is threatened.
The regional official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Iran had emphasized from the beginning that it would only discuss its nuclear program, while Washington wanted other issues on the agenda.
Oil prices extended gains on Wednesday after the United States shot down an Iranian drone and armed Iranian ships approached a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz, reigniting fears of an escalation between Washington and Tehran.
US President Donald Trump warned that “bad things” were likely to happen if a deal could not be reached, increasing pressure on the Islamic Republic in a standoff that has led to mutual threats of airstrikes and raised fears of a wider war.
On Tuesday, the US military shot down an Iranian drone that came “aggressively” close to the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, the US military said, in an incident first reported by Reuters.
Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday: “We’re negotiating with them right now.” He did not elaborate and declined to say where he expected the talks to take place. A source familiar with the situation said Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner would participate in the talks, along with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.
Ministers from several other countries in the region, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, were also expected to attend, but a regional source told Reuters that Tehran only wanted bilateral talks with the United States.
In June, the United States attacked Iranian nuclear targets, joining the end of a 12-day Israeli bombing campaign. More recently, the U.S. Navy built up forces in the region following Iran’s violent crackdown on anti-government protests last month, the deadliest since the 1979 Iranian revolution.
Trump, who stopped short of following through on threats to intervene, has since demanded nuclear concessions from Iran and sent a flotilla to its coast. Iran’s leaders are increasingly concerned that a U.S. attack could break their grip on power by sending an already angry public back to the streets, according to six current and former Iranian officials.
The priority of the diplomatic effort is to avoid conflict and reduce tension, a regional official previously told Reuters.
Iranian sources told Reuters last week that Trump had demanded three conditions for resuming talks: zero uranium enrichment in Iran, limits on Tehran’s ballistic missile program and an end to its support for regional proxies.
Iran has long said the three demands are unacceptable violations of its sovereignty, but two Iranian officials told Reuters that its clerical rulers viewed the ballistic missile program, rather than uranium enrichment, as the biggest obstacle.
An Iranian official said there should be no preconditions for talks and that Iran was willing to show flexibility on uranium enrichment, which it says is for peaceful, not military, purposes. Since the US attacks in June, Tehran has said its uranium enrichment work has stopped.
In another incident on Tuesday, this one in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command said forces from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had approached a U.S.-flagged oil tanker at high speed and threatened to board and seize it.
Maritime risk management group Vanguard said Iranian ships ordered the tanker to stop its engine and prepare to be boarded. Instead, the tanker accelerated and continued its journey.
