Iran has agreed to discuss both its ballistic missile program and its support for terrorist organizations in the Middle East, not only its nuclear program, The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing three Iranian officials and one Arab official. These two issues, alongside the nuclear file, are clauses Israel has presented to the Americans as critical to any negotiations.
In return, the US agreed that the talks would be held on Friday in Oman without additional countries that were initially expected to participate, and in the format of direct, face-to-face discussions between the sides. The goal, according to the report, is to formulate a framework for an agreement. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said during a breakfast with religious leaders: "General Caine [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; D.K.] is very quiet, but he's brutal. Ask Venezuela, ask Iran. They're negotiating, they don't want us to attack them. We have a fleet on the way there." Trump made the remarks while wearing an F-35 jet pin on his jacket.
At the same time, Al Jazeera reported that mediators from Qatar, Turkey and Egypt had submitted a framework of principles to both sides ahead of the talks. According to two sources familiar with the negotiations, including a senior diplomat, the framework includes a demand that Iran completely freeze uranium enrichment for three years, and then limit enrichment to below 1.5 percent. Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium, including about 440 kilograms enriched to 60 percent, would be transferred to a third country.
On the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, what looks like a random rush of jets and people is actually a well-orchestrated routine. Sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are trained to work as a team to launch and recover safely and on time, every time. pic.twitter.com/64ubKaG1wC
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 5, 2026
Beyond the nuclear file, the framework requires Iran to commit not to transfer weapons and technologies to its regional proxies, and not to "initiate the use of ballistic missiles," a demand that falls short of the American position seeking to reduce both the number of missiles and their range. The mediators also proposed a "non-aggression pact" between Tehran and Washington. It is not yet known how either side responded to the proposal.
Denials soon followed from Tehran. Tasnim, a news agency close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, described reports of a crisis in the talks as an "American-Israeli media and psychological war" aimed at "testing Iran's resolve," and claimed that ultimately the US and Israel had accepted the previous format: talks limited to the nuclear issue alone.
Al-Hadath reported, citing an Iranian source, that the talks would be indirect, contradicting The New York Times report of direct negotiations.
According to The New York Times, Tehran feared that a broad, multilateral meeting would create the impression that Trump was staging a "show," and that negotiations were being imposed on Iran by the entire region, not only by Washington. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified that the talks must also address ballistic missiles, Iranian support for terrorist organizations and the regime's treatment of its citizens. Iran rejected this, the talks were stalled, and only mediation by Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, averted their collapse.
In parallel, the BBC reported that the US Air Force base at Spangdahlem in western Germany, a key NATO facility, had shifted to continuous 24-hour operations, based on intercepted communications from a US C-17 transport aircraft analyzed by the BBC. In addition, a third E-11A relay aircraft, which serves as an airborne communications hub for US forces, was en route from Crete to Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
These reports add to a broader picture of an expanded US military presence in the region, including an aircraft carrier, destroyers, fighter jets and aerial refueling planes deployed to the Middle East in recent weeks. President Trump warned that "bad things" would happen if no agreement was reached, and told NBC in an interview on Thursday that Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei "should be very worried."
