{"id":11709,"date":"2026-02-06T09:41:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T09:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?p=11709"},"modified":"2026-02-06T09:41:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T09:41:35","slug":"iran-us-start-crucial-talks-in-oman-as-confrontation-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?p=11709","title":{"rendered":"Iran, US start crucial talks in Oman as confrontation looms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>US concerned over Iran&#8217;s missiles, support for proxies.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Washington has significant naval buildup in the region.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Iran says ballistic missile programme non-negotiable.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Iran and the United States started high-stakes negotiations in Oman on Friday in efforts to overcome sharp differences over Tehran&#8217;s nuclear programme, but a dispute over widening the agenda risks derailing diplomacy and triggering another Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While both sides have signalled readiness to revive diplomacy over Tehran&#8217;s long-running nuclear dispute with the West, Washington wants to expand the talks to also cover Iran&#8217;s ballistic missiles, support for armed groups around the region and &#8220;treatment of their own people&#8221;, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iran has said it wants Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss only the nuclear issue in Muscat. US President Donald Trump&#8217;s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who helped mediate in Gaza ceasefire talks, is also due to take part in the talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;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. Commitments need to be hono[u]red,&#8221; Araqchi said on X on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tehran&#8217;s clerical leadership remains deeply concerned that Trump may still carry out his threats to strike Iran after a military buildup by the US Navy near Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In June, the US struck Iranian nuclear targets, joining in the final stages of a 12-day Israeli bombing campaign. Tehran has since said its uranium enrichment work has stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US naval buildup, which Trump has called a massive \u201carmada\u201d, has followed a bloody government crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran last month, heightening tensions between Washington and Tehran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump has warned that &#8220;bad things&#8221; would probably happen if a deal could not be reached, ratcheting up pressure on Tehran in a standoff that has led to mutual threats of air strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;While these negotiations are taking place, I would remind the Iranian regime that the president has many options at his disposal, aside from diplomacy, as the commander-in-chief of the most powerful military in the history of the world,&#8221; White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iran has vowed a harsh response to any military strike and has cautioned neighbouring Gulf Arab countries hosting US bases in the oil-rich region that they could be in the firing line if they were involved in an attack. Iran has one of the Middle East&#8217;s biggest stockpiles of ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Missile programme red line for Tehran<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Negotiators in Oman will have to navigate Iran&#8217;s red line on discussing its missile programme to reach a deal and avert future military action. Tehran has flatly ruled out talks on its &#8220;defence capabilities, including missiles and their range.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a show of defiance, Iran\u2019s state TV said hours before the talks that \u201cone of the country\u2019s most advanced long-range ballistic missiles, the Khorramshahr-4,\u201d had been deployed at one of the Revolutionary Guards\u2019 vast underground \u201cmissile cities\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Tehran is willing to show &#8220;flexibility on uranium enrichment, including handing over 400 kg of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and accepting zero enrichment under a consortium arrangement as a solution,&#8221; Iranian officials told&nbsp;<em>Reuters<\/em>&nbsp;last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iran also insists that its right to enrich uranium is not negotiable and demands the lifting of sanctions, reimposed since 2018 when Trump ditched Iran&#8217;s 2015 nuclear deal with six powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The United States, its European allies and Israel accuse Tehran of using its nuclear programme as a veil for efforts to try to develop the capability to produce weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iran and the United States started high-stakes negotiations in Oman on Friday in efforts to overcome sharp differences over Tehran&#8217;s nuclear programme, but a dispute over widening the agenda risks derailing diplomacy and triggering another Middle East conflict. While both sides have signalled readiness to revive diplomacy over Tehran&#8217;s long-running nuclear dispute with the West, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"no","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_3859443944190656_828796993651875":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[{"account":"facebook_3859443944190656_828796993651875","service":"facebook","timestamp":1770370911,"status":"success"}],"rop_publish_now_status":"done","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11711,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11709\/revisions\/11711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}