(AFP) – Iran and the United States were holding talks in Oman on Friday that were seen as a critical chance to avert any new escalation between the foes, after President Donald Trump threatened military action. With an American naval group led by an aircraft carrier in Middle Eastern waters, Iran has insisted the talks will be centred solely on its nuclear programme, although the US wants to discuss Tehran’s backing for militant groups in the region and its ballistic missile programme.
The talks are the first between the two foes since the United States joined Israel’s war with Iran in June with strikes on nuclear sites. They also come just under a month after Iranian authorities launched a crackdown on protests that left thousands dead according to rights groups. US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, accompanied by Trump’s influential son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the Iranian side are leading their delegations at the talks. Iranian state media described the talks as indirect and there was as yet no indication of the Iranian and American officials meeting directly. Images published by the Oman foreign ministry showed both sides meeting separately with Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi.
“The deliberations centred upon establishing the requisite foundations for the resumption of both diplomatic and technical negotiations,” said the Oman foreign ministry, describing the talks as “pivotal”.
Araghchi said as the talks began that Tehran maintains “full readiness to defend the country’s sovereignty and national security against any excessive demands or adventurism” by the United States. “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,” he added on X. According to Iran’s state television, the Iranian delegation first handed over its message to Oman’s foreign minister which was then passed on to the US. A second such round of talks was now underway, it added.
The White House has made clear it wants the talks to rein in Tehran’s ability to make a nuclear bomb, an ambition the Islamic republic has always denied. The US delegation intends to explore “zero nuclear capacity” for Iran, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, warning that Trump had “many options at his disposal aside from diplomacy”. “They’re negotiating,” Trump said of Iran on Thursday. “They don’t want us to hit them, we have a big fleet going there,” he added, referring to the aircraft carrier group he has repeatedly called an “armada”.
The meeting comes just under a month after the peak of a wave of nationwide protests in Iran against the clerical leadership, which rights groups say were repressed with an unprecedented crackdown that has left thousands dead. Trump initially threatened military action against Tehran over its crackdown on protesters and even told demonstrators “help is on its way”. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said that according to its latest toll 6,495 protesters were confirmed to have been killed as well as 214 members of the security forces and 61 bystanders. But it and other rights groups warn that the final toll risks being far higher, with the magnitude of the crackdown masked by the blanket internet shutdown imposed by the authorities for a fortnight. Almost 51,000 people are also confirmed to have been arrested, according to HRANA.
But Trump’s rhetoric in recent days has focused on reining in the Iranian nuclear programme. Underlying the gravity of the situation, the United States has manoeuvered a naval group led by aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln into the region. The Wall Street Journal cited a source as saying that the head of US military forces in the Middle East would join the latest talks. Iran has repeatedly vowed it will hit back at US bases if attacked. “We are ready to defend and it is the US president who must choose between compromise or war,” state television on Thursday quoted army spokesman General Mohammad Akraminia as saying, warning that Iran has “easy” access to US regional bases.
The US initially wanted to hold the talks in Turkey, include regional countries and explicitly expand the agenda beyond nuclear but then had to change course due to Iranian demands, a regional source close to the talks told AFP.
– Aya Iskandarani with Stuart Williams in Paris
© 2024 AFP
