Following intervention by Arab countries and pressure from several US allies, negotiations between the United States and Iran are now expected to proceed, after a brief crisis that led to their postponement.
According to a report by Axios, the talks will now take place on Friday at 10:00 a.m. in Muscat, the capital of Oman.
A US source told Axios that several Arab and Muslim leaders were involved in encouraging Washington to go ahead with the meeting. "They asked us to hold the meeting and listen to what the Iranians have to say. We told the Arabs we would hold the meeting if they insisted. But we are very skeptical," the official said. A second US official added that the Trump administration agreed to the meeting "out of respect" for US allies in the region and "in order to continue advancing the diplomatic track."
Iranian news agency Tasnim described reports of a crisis in the talks as an American-Israeli "media and psychological war" aimed at "testing Iran's resolve" and examining whether it would abandon its position and agree to discuss its defensive capabilities. According to the agency, "the United States and Israel, after seeing Iran's firm resolve, ultimately accepted the previous framework," meaning talks focused solely on Iran's nuclear file.
Earlier, as tensions surrounding the negotiations reached a boiling point, US President Donald Trump said in an interview with NBC News that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, "should be very worried."
Trump added that protesters in Iran have American backing. "Their country is in chaos right now. We destroyed their nuclear sites. We want peace in the Middle East," Trump said. "If we had not destroyed the nuclear program, there would be no peace in the Middle East, because Arab countries could not have done it. They were afraid of Iran. They are not afraid of Iran anymore."
