MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — Oman mediated indirect talks Friday between Iran and the United States over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, seeking to de-escalate tensions between the nations after Washington bombed Iranian nuclear sites and Tehran launched a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.
Oman issued a public statement acknowledging the talks after Associated Press journalists watched Iranian and American officials separately visit a palace on the outskirts of Muscat to speak to the sultanate's foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi.
It wasn’t immediately clear if that was the end of the talks for the day. However, the palace stood empty after the convoys left.
The two countries returned Friday to Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, months after rounds of meetings turned to ash following Israel’s launch of a 12-day war against Iran back in June. The U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites during that war, likely destroying many of the centrifuges that spun uranium to near weapons-grade purity. Israel’s attacks devastated Iran’s air defenses and targeted its ballistic missile arsenal as well.
U.S. officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio believe Iran’s theocracy is now at its weakest point since its 1979 Islamic Revolution after nationwide protests last month represented the greatest challenge to 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s rule. Khamenei’s forces responded with a crackdown that killed thousands and reportedly saw tens of thousands arrested — and spurred new military threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to target the country.
With the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships in the region, along with more fighter jets, the U.S. now likely has the military firepower to launch an attack if it wanted. But whether attacks could be enough to force Iran to change its ways — or potentially topple its government — remains far from a sure thing.
Meanwhile, Gulf Arab nations fear an attack could spark a regional war dragging them in as well. That threat is real — already, U.S. forces shot down an Iranian drone near the Lincoln and Iran attempted to stop a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
Omani palace hosts talks
The palace, near Muscat's international airport, had been used by Oman in earlier talks between Iran and the U.S. in 2025. AP journalists saw Iranian officials at the palace and later returning to their hotel.
Only after the Iranian vehicles left did another convoy including an SUV flying the American flag enter the palace grounds, where it stayed for about an hour and a half.
After that, Oman’s Foreign Ministry published a statement saying al-Busaidi met separately with Araghchi, then with U.S. Mideast special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. Footage later released by the state-run Oman News Agency showed that U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the American military's Central Command, also attended the meeting — something unusual that hasn't happened in previous rounds.
“The consultations focused on preparing the appropriate circumstances for resuming the diplomatic and technical negotiations by ensuring the importance of these negotiations, in light of the parties’ determination to ensure their success in achieving sustainable security and stability,” the Omani announcement said.
Neither the Americans nor the Iranians offered any readout of the meetings.
Few details on talks ahead of meeting
Details remained sparse even before the talks began. Officials at Oman's borders on Thursday showed particular concern over anyone carrying cameras into the sultanate before the negotiations.
On the Iranian side, Araghchi wrote on X that “Iran enters diplomacy with open eyes and a steady memory of the past year.”
“Commitments need to be honored,” he wrote. “Equal standing, mutual respect and mutual interest are not rhetoric — they are a must and the pillars of a durable agreement.”
A top adviser to Khamenei also appeared to offer the theocracy's support to the 63-year-old career diplomat.
Araghchi “is a skilled, strategic and trustworthy negotiator at the highest levels of decision-making and military intelligence,” Ali Shamkhani wrote on X. “Soldiers of the nation in the armed forces & generals of diplomacy, acting under the order of the Leader, will safeguard the nation’s interests.”
On the U.S. side, the talks led by Witkoff, a 68-year-old billionaire New York real estate mogul and longtime friend to Trump. Traveling with Witkoff on his Mideast trip so far is Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who in recent weeks has shared proposals for the Gaza Strip and took part in trilateral talks with Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi earlier on the trip.
The two men had traveled from Abu Dhabi to Qatar on Thursday night for meetings there, the Qatari-funded satellite news network Al Jazeera reported. Qatar, which shares an offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf with Iran, also hosts a major U.S. military installation that Iran attacked in the June war.
Nuclear program on the table at the least
It remains unclear just what terms Iran will be willing to negotiate at the talks. Tehran has maintained that these talks only will be on its nuclear program. However, Al Jazeera reported that diplomats from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar offered Iran a proposal in which Tehran would halt enrichment for three years, send its highly enriched uranium out of the country and pledge “not initiate the use of ballistic missiles.”
Russia had signaled it would take the uranium, but Shamkhani in an interview earlier this week had said ending the program or shipping out the uranium were nonstarters.
Rubio, America's top diplomat, said Wednesday that the talks needed to include all those issues.
“I’m not sure you can reach a deal with these guys, but we’re going to try to find out,” he said. ___
The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
