The new talks will be held in Oman with Iran’s assistance, despite Washington’s resistance to the location. According to a report by Axios, several leaders from West Asia have lobbied the Trump administration not to follow through on threats to walk away
The US and Iran have reached nowhere in the latest round of talks and are planning to meet again on Friday (February 6), but President Donald Trump has made sure to intimidate Iran before the next meeting.
The new talks will be held in Oman with Iran’s assistance, despite Washington’s resistance to the location. According to a report by Axios, several leaders from West Asia have lobbied the Trump administration not to follow through on threats to walk away.
Doubts had swirled about the fate of the negotiations after a report earlier Wednesday that the talks between the bitter foes were falling apart due to disagreements about the format and the venue.
The uncertainty had increased fears of renewed US military action against Tehran, amid soaring tensions since Iran violently put down some of the most serious protests against its rule since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
‘Very sceptical’
Sources have told Axios that the Iran-US standoff has raised concerns across West Asia that Trump would resort to military action against Iran.
At least nine regional nations contacted the highest levels of the White House to deliver a clear message: do not cancel the meeting.
The outreach underscores the high stakes involved, with leaders across the region advocating for the summit to proceed as planned.
“They asked us to keep the meeting and listen to what the Iranians have to say. We have told the Arabs that we will do the meeting if they insist. But we are very sceptical,” one US official said.
Meanwhile, another official has said that the administration agreed to hold the meeting “to be respectful” to U.S. allies in the region and “in order to continue pursuing the diplomatic track.”
Trump warns Ayatollah
Diplomats had earlier said the meeting would happen in Turkey. But the Axios news outlet said the US was on the verge of pulling out, as Iran disputed both the location and whether its ballistic missile program should be included.
But Trump, who has sharply built up the US military presence in the region and refused to rule out new military action, continued to up the pressure on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“I would say he should be very worried,” Trump said Wednesday in an interview with US broadcaster NBC News.
Trump also said that Iran had eyed a new nuclear facility after US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites during Israel’s June war against the Islamic republic.
“They were thinking about starting a new site in a different part of the country,” Trump told NBC. “We found out about it, I said, you do that, we’re going to do very bad things to you.”
With inputs from agencies
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