U.S. and Iran to hold indirect nuclear talks in Oman on Saturday

Iran and the United States are set to engage in indirect high-level talks in Oman this Saturday amid rising tensions over Iran’s nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi announced the talks on Monday, describing them as both “an opportunity and a test,” and emphasized that “the ball is in America’s court.”

Speaking Monday alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said the U.S. is prepared to reach a deal but warned that failure to do so would place Iran in great danger. “Doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious.”

When asked on the possibility of military action if diplomacy fails, Trump said only that it would be “a very bad day for Iran.”

Trump recently sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, proposing direct talks—an overture that was reportedly rejected by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who nonetheless left open the door to indirect engagement, according to the Associated Press.

In a post last week, Foreign Minister Araghchi defended Iran’s continued compliance with a key provision of the 2015 nuclear deal, despite the U.S. withdrawal from the accord in 2018, during Trump’s first term.

Citing the agreement’s core nonproliferation pledge, Araghchi wrote: “Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.” He added that there is “not one shred of proof” that Iran has violated this commitment in the decade since the deal was signed.

Araghchi said on Monday that the upcoming dialogue could either rekindle diplomacy, or mark a final breakdown in efforts to resolve the nuclear standoff peacefully.