Iran and the United States begin negotiations on Friday in Oman, which Tehran wants to strictly limit to its nuclear program, with Washington for its part leaving the military threat looming in the event of failure. These discussions, which according to Tehran should open in the morning in Muscat, are the first since the strikes on Iranian nuclear sites carried out in June by the United States, during the 12-day war triggered by an Israeli attack against Iran. They will be led by the American president’s envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and the head of Iranian diplomacy, Abbas Araghchi. The latter arrived in Muscat on Thursday evening, reported the official Irna news agency.
The talks come after the bloody repression by the Iranian authorities of the vast protest movement in early January – which left thousands dead according to rights defenders – and the exchange of bellicose remarks between Washington and Tehran. After threatening to strike Iran in support of the protesters, the American president is now focusing his rhetoric on control of the Iranian nuclear program. Western countries and Israel accuse Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies.
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