US, Iran strike optimistic tone, set to talk more next week

A senior Russian diplomat hailed the talks held by Tehran and Washington, describing them as "encouraging."

"At the end of today's meeting in Oman, both the Iranians and the Americans called the talks that took place positive and constructive," Mikhail Ulyanov, Russian ambassador to international bodies in Vienna, wrote on Telegram.

Moscow tightened its relationship with Tehran since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and has been using Iranian drones in the war. Russia's ties with the US have also seen a significant thaw since Trump came back to power earlier this year.

The talks between Washington and Tehran marked a "step forward" between the two countries, the White House said on Saturday, describing the discussions as "very positive and constructive."

"These issues are very complicated, and Special Envoy [Steven] Witkoff's direct communication today was a step forward in achieving a mutually beneficial outcome," the White House said in a statement.

It added that the US envoy told Iran's top diplomat that "he had instructions from President Trump to resolve our two nations' differences through dialogue and diplomacy, if that is possible."

The White House confirmed earlier Iranian statements saying talks would resume next Saturday.

The US and Iran were "very close to a basis for negotiations," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state television following Saturday's talks.

"If we can conclude this basis next week, we'll have gone a long way and will be able to start real discussions based on that," Araghchi said.

The Iranian top diplomat said the talks took place in a "productive, calm and positive atmosphere," adding that both sides were after an agreement in the short term.

"We do not want talks for [the sake of] talks," he said, adding that the talks would resume next Saturday.

"The current focus of the talks will be de-escalating regional tensions, prisoner exchanges and limited agreements to ease sanctions [against Iran] in exchange for controlling Iran's nuclear program," the Reuters news agency quoted an Omani unnamed source as saying.

Though the Saturday talks were indirect, Araghchi said both sides spoke face-to-face for "a few minutes."

Iran and the US will hold more talks next week about Tehran's nuclear program after a first round ended on Saturday, Iranian state television has said.

It said US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi "briefly spoke in the presence of the Omani foreign minister" at the end of the indirect talks in the Omani capital, Muscat.
 
US officials have not immediately confirmed the Iranian reports.

News agencies have reported that the talks between the US and Iran about Tehran's nuclear program have ended after more that two hours.

The Associated Press said its reporters had seen a convoy believed to be carrying US envoy Steve Witkoff drive away from a compound in the Omani capital, Muscat, where talks were taking place.

The Iranian Tasnim news agency also reported that talks had concluded. There was no immediate official confirmation.

Saturday's tallks are the highest-level discussions on Iran's nuclear program since a landmark 2015 international deal collapsed in 2018 after US President Donald Trump withdrew from it during his first term in office.

The current talks are taking place under the threat of military action from the US, while Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could use their stockpile of enriched uranium to work toward nuclear weapons.

DW has this video examining the likelihood of an agreement being reached.
 

If a US-Iran deal falls through, Donald Trump has threatened "there will be a bombing" of Iran. 

And ahead of the talks in Oman, the US clearly bolstered its military presence in the region. 

It moved six of its most advanced bombers, the B-2, to the US-British military base of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean earlier this month. 

Experts say the location put the bombers in an ideal position to operate in the Middle East. The B-2s are equipped to carry the heaviest US bombs as well as nuclear weapons. 

In a display of its miliitary capabilities, the US has also sent a second aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group, to the Middle East.  

Israeli media reported last week that the US had provided Israel with an additional Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, battery. 

This is a high altitude system capable of intercepting missiles outside the atmosphere. 

The move is widely seen as helping defend against possible Iranian ballistic missile attacks.

Israel could also launch strike

A military strike on Iran doesn't necessarily have to be executed by the United States, it could also be launched by Israel. 

Israel is now in a strong position to strike Iran, concludes a new  analysis by the Atlantic Council. 

This is because Hezbollah's extremely weakened state "eliminates a major response option Iran had long counted on to deter an Israeli or US strike."

"The most effective option may be a combined US-Israeli operation," the analysis finds.

The stakes are high in Saturday's talks between the US and Iran on Tehran's nuclear program.

DW has analysed the perceptions and expectations on both sides in an in-depth article that you can read here.

 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in Oman's capital, Muscat. 

Upon his arrival, Araghchi expressed hope that many core issues could be addressed in the talks. 

"If there is sufficient will, we will decide on a timetable. But it is still too early to talk about that," he said in a clip published by Iranian state media, IRNA. 

"What is clear now is that the negotiations are indirect and in our view only on the nuclear issue." 

The talks "will be conducted with the necessary will to reach an agreement that is on an equal footing and leads to securing the national interests of the Iranian people," he said.

Iran's proxy forces in the Middle East, part of what it calls the Axis of Resistance, have been considerably weakened in the past two years. 

Israel's war with Hamas, which receives substantial aid from Iran, has significantly diminished the Palestinian militant group and killed many of its leaders. 

Iran also supports the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah with funding, weapons and training. But Hezbollah has also been reduced in the wake of fighting with Israel.

As for the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, US strikes have destroyed military infrastructure and killed commanders.

Iran also saw the fall of one of its closest strategic allies, Bashar Assad, in December 2024. Syria under the Assad regime was seen as a "pillar" of the Iran's Axis of Resistance and Assad's fall is seen as a major blow for Iran.

Israel strikes against Iran in retaliatory attack

Israeli military strikes against Iran in October 2024 hit around 20 locations, striking air defenses and missile production. 

These strikes followed an Iranian missile attack against Israel in what it said was retaliation for the killing of the Hamas political leader, the leader of Hezbollah and a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Israeli strikes appeared to cause "significant damage to Iranian air defences as well as missile launch facilities," finds an analysis by the Royal United Services Institute, a UK defense think tank.

At the same time, international sanctions are choking Iran's economy, putting Iran's leaders under domestic pressure. 

And now Donald Trump is turning up the international pressure.

US President Donald Trump has been calling for direct talks while threatening that Iran will be in "great danger" if doesn't move to make a new deal on its nuclear program.

His threats include bombing Iran and further tariffs. The US also imposed more sanctions in Iran this week. 

"If they don't make a deal, there will be bombing," Trump said on March 30. "But there's a chance that if they don't make a deal, that I will do secondary tariffs on them like I did four years ago."

It's not yet clear if Iran's negotiator, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will speak directly. 

Iranian officials have insisted that the plan is for "indirect talks." This could mean an intermediary from Oman shuttling messages between Witkoff's and Araghchi's teams sitting in different rooms. 

US President Donald Trump's aims for Iran include getting it to fully dismantle its nuclear program, says a new analysis by the Atlantic Council, a US think tank.

Trump has said numerous times, in both his second and his first term, that Iran can't have nuclear weapons.

"I want Iran to be a wonderful, great, happy country, but they can't have a nuclear weapon," Trump said Friday night aboard Air Force One ahead of the Oman talks on Saturday.

This was basically a repetition of what Trump said last week, when he told reporters: "The only thing that they can't have is a nuclear weapon." 

The Trump administration has followed a policy of "maximum pressure" to increase limits on Iran's nuclear program.

In 2018, during his first term, Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers, including Germany, and reimposed stringent sanctions. Trump said he wanted to strike a better deal at the time.

This time, the Trump administration has sought to keep up the pressure on Iran, slapping more sanctions on Iranian entities for their support of establishments that oversee Iran’s nuclear program as recently as two days ago.

Washington's ally, Israel, has demanded full denuclearization, a stance analysts say Tehran is unlikely to accept.

Iran initially rejected direct negotiations with Washington before Trump announced on March 30: "If they don't make a deal, there will be bombing, and it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before."

A senior aide to Iran's supreme leader responded to the threats by saying his country could expel UN nuclear inspectors. The US warned against such a move, saying that would mean "escalation."

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his country was willing to attempt to strike a deal with the Trump administration, but has expressed a lack of trust in the US. 

The US and Iran are set for fresh talks over Tehran's nuclear program under the shadow of US military threats if talks fail to yield an outcome.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will lead the talks in Oman, though the format of the talks has been unclear.

US President Donald Trump has pushed for direct negotiations, while Iran has insisted on indirect negotiations, which means Omani diplomats would shuttle between rooms carrying messages for the negotiating parties.

Both sides have expressed cautious optimism, as Iran's refusal to limit its missile program or fully dismantle its nuclear capabilities remain a point of contention. It's not clear whether talks would continue after Saturday.

Trump has threatened to bomb Iran if it refuses to strike a deal on the future of its nuclear program, repeating earlier this week that if talks fail, "Iran is going to be in great danger."