American officials met to lead U.S.-Iran talks in Oman on Friday, days after a U.S. fighter pilot shot down an Iranian drone. The officials were expected to include special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
After much back and forth and escalating tension, Witkoff and Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, were to sit down with Iranian officials, primarily to negotiate the terms of Iran’s nuclear program.
The meeting comes after several Arab nations put pressure on the Trump administration to continue talks as Trump ramped up threats of a military strike and deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group to the Arabian Sea.
An F-35 pilot from the Lincoln shot down an Iranian drone that “aggressively” approached the carrier on Tuesday, according to U.S. Central Command.
Hours later, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces threatened to board and seize a U.S. merchant vessel passing through the Strait of Hormuz, backing off when the U.S. sent air support and a destroyer to escort the tanker, Central Command said.
Originally scheduled to take place in Turkey, the meeting was eventually moved to Oman at the request of Iranian delegates, to keep the focus on conversations on its nuclear program, and not its ballistic missile stockpile or other regional proxy issues.
A senior Middle East diplomat with knowledge of the scheduled talks between the two countries told MS NOW that after U.S. officials agreed to the venue change, Iran agreed to discuss topics beyond the nuclear program.
“And Iran certainly wants a deal. But with the U.S., it’s much more uncertain,” the diplomat said.
Trump, who has called for an end to the Iranian regime, has publicly clashed in recent weeks with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, each threatening the other with military action.
The animosity between the countries burgeoned amid widespread protests against Iran’s worsening economic crisis and the country’s authoritarian leadership, which a military crackdown has since quelled. The U.S. government issued a security alert last month, directing Americans to leave Iran by land immediately. The British embassy in Tehran temporarily closed around the same time and is now operating remotely.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which cross-checks collected data with people on the ground, said that more than 2,400 protesters in Iran died in the protests, including a dozen children, and more than 18,000 people have been arrested. MS NOW has not verified these figures.
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Julia Jester contributed to this report.
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