Iran and the US held “constructive” high-level talks, including a brief face-to-face discussion, in Oman's capital Muscat on Saturday afternoon and are set to continue next week, according to Iran's Foreign Ministry and the White House.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff spoke briefly in the presence of Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi, Tehran said, although it had earlier said that talks would be indirect.
The talks were the first face-to-face interaction between the two nations since former US president Barack Obama was in power. The adversaries, who have not had diplomatic relations for more than 40 years, are seeking a new deal on Iran's nuclear programme after current US President Donald Trump pulled out of an agreement during his first term.
Mr Araghchi, an experienced negotiator and an architect of the 2015 accord, and Mr Witkoff, a real estate magnate, led the delegations in the highest-level Iran-US nuclear talks since Mr Trump collapsed the deal in 2018.
“Indirect talks between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America on the issue of lifting sanctions and the nuclear issue ended,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday, following two-and-a-half hours of discussions mediated by Oman.
Iran and the US held discussions “in a constructive atmosphere based on mutual respect, through the Foreign Minister of Oman”, the ministry's statement on Telegram added. “The parties agreed that these talks will continue next week.”
Mr Araghchi later told state television that the next round of talks will be held next Saturday. “I think we are very close to a basis for negotiations and 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,” he said.
“The discussions were very positive and constructive, and the United States deeply thanks the Sultanate of Oman for its support of this initiative,” the White House said in a statement.
Mr Witkoff had conveyed to his counterpart that Mr Trump had instructed him to resolve the differences between Tehran and Washington “through dialogue and diplomacy, if that is possible”, the statement added.
“These issues are very complicated, and special envoy Witkoff’s direct communication today was a step forward in achieving a mutually beneficial outcome,” it added, and confirmed that they agreed to meet again in a week.
Mr Araghchi thanked Mr Al Busaidi for his mediation, saying he went back and forth between the two halls about four times during the discussions. “Iran and the US side want an agreement in the short term. We do not want talks for [the sake of] talks,” the Iranian Foreign Minister added.
Esmail Baghaei, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, had earlier announced in a post on X the start of “indirect talks”.
“These talks will be held at the location provided by the Omani host, with representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States seated in separate halls,” he said.
On April 8, Mr Trump, sitting alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House, said Washington would hold “direct” talks with Iran on its nuclear programme.
Iran had disputed this claim and maintained that negotiations would be done through a mediator.
Nearly two hours after they began, a member of Iran's delegation told semi-official Tasnim news agency that the talks with the US were going “positively”.
Earlier on Saturday, Mr Araghchi had met Mr Al Busaidi and conveyed messages to be relayed to the US, according to Irna.
The goal of negotiations in Oman was to reach “fair and honourable agreement” from a position of “equal standing”, said Mr Araghchi, according to a video posted by Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency.
“If the other side also comes from the same position, then hopefully there will be a chance for an initial understanding that will lead to a path of negotiations,” he added.
Mr Baghaei said Tehran aimed to use “all its capacities to protect Iran's authority and national interests” before his departure to Oman, according to Irna.
The Iranian delegation also included Deputy Political Affairs Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Deputy International and Legal Affairs Minister Kazem Gharibabadi and negotiators on sanctions relief, Iranian state media reported.
The meeting was closed to the media.
Iran had maintained that the negotiations would involve its nuclear programme and sanctions relief, while the US's position is dismantling it altogether.
“I think our position begins with dismantlement of [Iran's] programme. That is our position today,” Mr Witkoff told The Wall Street Journal before his trip. “That doesn’t mean, by the way, that at the margin we’re not going to find other ways to find compromise between the two countries.”
Mr Trump gave Iran a two-month deadline to either agree to a new deal or risk military action, after Tehran had rejected direct talks with the US.
“If they don't make a deal, there will be bombing,” the US President said in an interview last month. “It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before,” he told NBC News.
US and Iran begin negotiations in Oman: What's at stake?
