Iran foreign minister arrives in Oman for nuclear talks with US
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- Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff are set to begin nuclear negotiations in Muscat on Friday morning, marking the first formal talks since the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025.
- While Trump asserts that Iran is negotiating due to the presence of a US carrier strike group and the threat of military action, Tehran has called for "realism and seriousness" from Washington following a period of intense internal unrest and regional military escalation.
Iran's foreign minister arrived in Oman late Thursday for nuclear talks with the United States, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi "arrived in Muscat, the capital of Oman, to participate in a new round of nuclear talks with the American delegation", the agency said.
He is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, with Washington seeking diplomatic progress on the Iranian nuclear programme and other issues while refusing to rule out military action.
The talks, which Iran says will start Friday morning in Muscat, will be the first since the United States launched strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June during the twelve-day war that followed an ‘Israeli’ attack on Iran.
The US delegation will be led by Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, while Iran will be represented by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
The meeting comes less than a month after a deadly crackdown by Iranian authorities on widespread protests, which rights groups say left thousands killed.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it hopes Washington will show “responsibility, realism, and seriousness” during the talks.
Trump said the Iranians are “negotiating” out of fear of an attack as the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and its strike group arrived in the Middle East.
Trump initially threatened military action against Tehran over its suppression of protesters, even telling demonstrators that “help is on the way.”
In recent days, however, his rhetoric has focused on curbing Iran’s nuclear program, which Western powers fear is aimed at developing a nuclear bomb.
