Iran and the US were yesterday holding talks in Oman that were seen as a critical chance to avert any new escalation between the foes, after US President Donald Trump threatened military action.
With a US naval group led by an aircraft carrier in Middle Eastern waters, Iran has insisted the talks would be centered solely on its nuclear program, although the US wants to discuss Tehran’s backing for militant groups in the region and its ballistic missile program.
The talks come just under a month after Iranian authorities launched a crackdown on protests that left thousands dead according to rights groups.
Photo: Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs / AFP
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, accompanied by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi are leading their delegations at the talks.
Iranian state media described the talks as indirect and as of press time last night, there was no indication yet of the Iranian and US officials meeting directly.
Images published by Oman showed both sides meeting separately with Oman Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi.
Araghchi said Tehran maintains “full readiness to defend the country’s sovereignty and national security against any excessive demands or adventurism” by the US.
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, adding that Trump had “many options at his disposal aside from diplomacy.”
“They’re negotiating,” Trump said regarding 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 US has maneuvered a naval group led by aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln into the region.
Iran has repeatedly vowed it would 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,” Iranian state television quoted army spokesman General Mohammad Akraminia as saying, warning that Iran has “easy” access to US regional bases.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS