U.S., Iran to Hold Talks Friday Despite Dispute Over Agenda
Nuclear talks between the United States and Iran will be held in Muscat, Oman on Friday after Tehran reportedly requested a change of venue and expressed a desire to keep the negotiations focused on its nuclear program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an X post on Wednesday that the talks were scheduled for around 10 a.m. local time in Muscat, thanking Oman for facilitating the meeting. The talks had previously been expected to take place in Turkey.
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said Washington was prepared to meet Iran but introduced a broad range of terms beyond Iran’s civilian nuclear program. "If the Iranians want to meet, we're ready," Rubio said, adding that Iran “will have to include certain things, and that includes the range of their ballistic missiles,” as well as “the treatment of their own people,” in addition to the nuclear issue.
The comments indicate talks are moving ahead despite recent military tensions, including a brief confrontation this week in which the U.S. military said it shot down an Iranian drone that approached the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea.
