Iran and US Set for High Stakes Nuclear Talks in Oman Friday

Diplomatic Breakthrough After Near Collapse

After a chaotic 24 hours that nearly derailed the entire process, Iran and the United States are set to hold talks in Oman's capital, Muscat, on Friday, officials confirmed Wednesday, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announcing the talks will begin at around 10:00 a.m. local time . The negotiations were salvaged only after a coalition of Arab and Muslim states lobbied the White House, urging the Trump administration not to abandon diplomacy. Following this intervention, there was some compromise. The US agreed to shift the venue and exclude other participants, while Iran dropped its resistance to discussing missiles and militant groups .

The two sides had reportedly initially agreed to meet in Istanbul, Türkiye, with several regional countries attending as observers. Iran later proposed shifting the talks to Oman and limiting them to a strictly bilateral format focused solely on nuclear issues, a move that reportedly triggered U.S. anger . "We told them it is this or nothing, and they said, 'Ok, then nothing,'" Axios quoted a senior US official as saying. The official added that if Iran does not return to the original format, "people will look at other options," an apparent reference to US President Donald Trump's repeated threats of military action .

The US side will be represented by White House special envoy Steve Witkoff, with Araghchi and his team holding discussions with President Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner . The negotiations will be conducted indirectly, with Oman serving as mediator. The format is expected to mirror earlier rounds held before last June's US-Israeli war on Iran, which disrupted the diplomatic process .

Massive Death Toll Fuels Urgency

The talks come against the backdrop of Iran's brutal crackdown on nationwide protests that began in late December. Iran's sweeping crackdown on anti-government demonstrations left more than 6,800 people dead, the vast majority of them protesters killed last month, according to an advocacy organization tracking and confirming the fatalities . By late January, Time, The Guardian and Iran International reported that between 30,000 and 36,500 protesters were killed during 8–9 January. As of 1 February 2026, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) had documented a total of 18,122 cases, including 6,842 confirmed deaths, of whom at least 6,425 were protesters .

Iranian state television has released the first official death toll from the recent antigovernment protests that engulfed the country, reporting that 3,117 people were killed during the crackdown . However, Independent and foreign media, citing medical professionals, human rights groups, and leaked hospital data, have reported substantially higher figures. On 17 January, The Sunday Times reported that a network of Iranian doctors estimated between 16,500 and 18,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of injuries; one doctor quoted in the report described the killings as genocide .

Tensions between the countries spiked after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. might use force against Iran in response to the crackdown on protesters. Trump also has been pushing Tehran for a deal to constrain its nuclear program . US President Donald Trump encouraged protesters, and has threatened several times to strike Iran if they continues killing protesters .

Competing Agendas Threaten Progress

Despite agreeing to meet, fundamental disagreements over the scope of discussions remain. "If the Iranians want to meet, we're ready," Mr. Rubio told reporters. But he added that talks would have to include the range of Iran's ballistic missiles, its support for armed proxy groups around the Middle East and its treatment of its own people, besides nuclear issues . A senior Iranian official said, however, that Iran's missile program was "off the table." A second senior Iranian official said Tehran would welcome negotiations over the nuclear dispute but that US insistence on dealing with non-nuclear issues could jeopardize the talks .

Previous negotiations stalled over Washington's demand for zero uranium enrichment and restrictions on Iran's missile development and regional proxies – conditions Tehran has repeatedly rejected . Vance said Trump's bottom line is that Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, asserting that other states in the region would quickly do the same. Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful .

The talks come as both sides ramp up military preparations. The United States has expanded its military presence in the Middle East in recent weeks, deploying major naval and air assets, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers . On Tuesday, a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that approached an American aircraft carrier. Iranian fast boats from its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard also tried to stop a U.S.-flagged ship in