US-Iran talks to take place in Oman today. Will they help prevent war?
US-Iran talks are scheduled for February 6 in Oman. Countries in the region hope they will help avoid a major war, but so far, according to official and unofficial statements, the parties have not even agreed on the content of these talks, and US President Donald Trump is not backing down from his intention to strike Iran if it does not make concessions, writes the BBC.
Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Iran states that it is only ready to talk about its nuclear program, while the US intends to demand concessions from it in several areas, including its missile arsenal and support for Iranian proxies in the region.
"Indirect talks between Iran and the United States will be held on Friday in Muscat [the capital of Oman]. Their agenda will be limited to the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions against Iran," the Iranian news agency "Tasnim" reported on Wednesday.
The Iranian delegation, the agency reported, will be led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. The American side will be represented by President Trump's special envoy Steve Whitkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on the same day, February 4, what US representatives had repeatedly stated: the agenda for the talks, from their point of view, should be much broader.
"For the talks to lead to anything concrete, they must cover certain things, including the range of their [Iran's] ballistic missiles, including support for terrorist organizations throughout the region, including their nuclear program and including their treatment of their own people," AFP quoted Rubio as saying.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, continues to threaten Iran with strikes. The US has deployed an aircraft carrier group with dozens of combat aircraft and missiles to the Persian Gulf region, and the press has been reporting "leaks" from the White House for several days about Trump studying options for strikes on Iran.
"I would say he [Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] should be very worried," Trump replied on Wednesday to a question from NBC News.
Trump then stated that Iran, after a 12-day war last summer, when Israel and the US struck Iranian military and nuclear facilities, intended to build some new nuclear facility.
"They were thinking about starting to build a new facility in another part of the country. We found out about it, and I said: if you do that, we will do you a lot of harm," Trump reported.
Iranian authorities and military officials respond to Trump's threats by saying they will strike American bases in the region (there are about 20 of them in various countries), as well as US allied countries.
"Hardliners in Tehran, close to the Supreme Leader, say that Iran should respond to US threats of military force with counter-threats, not invitations to negotiations. They may have succeeded in increasing the likelihood of war," reports Kasra Naji, BBC Persian Service correspondent.
Shot-down drone and tanker threat
The new confrontation between Americans and Iranians has already resulted in two incidents.
On Tuesday, the American military stated that they shot down an Iranian "Shahed-139" reconnaissance drone over the Arabian Sea, which, according to them, was aggressively approaching the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln.
As the US Central Command stated, the drone was shot down by an F-35 aircraft.
Iranian state media stated that this drone was conducting a reconnaissance flight and that communication with it was lost for unknown reasons.
On the same day, the US Central Command stated that two boats of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, supported by a multi-purpose drone, attempted to stop and seize a US-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
The British company Vanguard, which deals with shipping security, clarified that the Iranians, approaching the tanker, ordered the vessel to stop and prepare for their boarding, but the tanker instead sped up and simply continued its journey.
Choice of Oman and "red line"
Initially, the talks were supposed to be held in Turkey, but Iran insisted that they take place in Oman. Regional specialists note that this underscores Tehran's unwillingness to discuss anything other than the nuclear program.
As Reuters writes, citing an anonymous official from the Middle East region, Iran wants these talks to look like a continuation of the Iran-US nuclear program talks that began last spring precisely in Oman.
Kasra Naji, BBC Persian Service correspondent, adds that Iran considers Oman a more friendly country than Turkey.
Those talks were interrupted, and in June, the US, joining Israel's air campaign against Iran, struck Iranian nuclear facilities. Israeli aviation destroyed most of Iran's missile arsenal.
Iran has always claimed that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful, and after those strikes, it stated that it had been completely halted.
However, according to the IAEA, Iran has accumulated at least 408 kg of highly enriched uranium, and the US wants it to be stored in another country.
Regarding missiles, Iran stated that after the June war, it replenished its stock.
Tehran has stated and continues to state that it does not intend to agree to any restrictions on its ballistic missiles and that this is a "red line" for it. In the opinion of the Iranian leadership, possessing missiles capable of reaching Israel is allowed by its legitimate right to self-defense.
Tehran also does not wish to discuss its support for allied armed groups and parties in the region.
Therefore, it is completely unclear what results the parties will be able to achieve at the meeting on February 6 in Muscat.
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