The high-stakes talks between Iran and the United States are focused on de-escalating regional tensions, prisoner exchanges and limited agreements to ease sanctions in exchange for controlling Iran's nuclear programme, an Omani source told Reuters on Saturday.
Iran and the United States began high-level talks in the sultane of Oman on Saturday, aiming to jump-start negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening military action if there is no deal.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was leading Iran's delegation while the talks on the U.S. side - the first during Trump's tenure in the White House - were being handled by his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
"Indirect talks between Iran and the United States with the mediation of the Omani foreign minister have started," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei posted on X.
Iran's Tasnim News Agency said the atmosphere of talks was "positive".
Iran is approaching the talks warily, skeptical that they could lead to a deal and suspicious of Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran if it does not halt its nuclear program.
While each side has talked up the chances of some progress, they remain far apart on a dispute that has rumbled on for more than two decades and have not agreed on whether the talks will be face-to-face, as Trump demands, or indirect, as Iran wants.
Signs of movement could help cool tensions in a region aflame since 2023 with Israel’s wars on Gaza and Lebanon, missile fire between Iran and Israel, Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping and the overthrow of the Iran-backed Assad regime in Syria.
However, failure would aggravate fears of a wider conflagration across a region that exports much of the world's oil. Tehran has cautioned neighboring countries that have U.S. bases that they would face "severe consequences" if they were involved in any U.S. military attack on Iran.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who in the Islamic Republic's complex power structure has the final say on key state matters, has given Araqchi "full authority" for the talks, an Iranian official told Reuters.
"The duration of the talks, that will only be about the nuclear issue, will depend on the U.S. side's seriousness and goodwill," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Iran has ruled out negotiating its defense capabilities such as its missile program.
Iran has always maintained its nuclear program is intended for purely civilian purposes but Western countries believe it wants to build an atomic bomb.
They say Iran's enrichment of uranium, a nuclear fuel source, has gone far beyond the requirements of a civilian program and has produced stocks at a level of fissile purity close to those required in warheads.
Trump, who has restored a "maximum pressure" campaign on Tehran since February, ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers in 2018 during his first term, reimposing crippling sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Since then, Iran's nuclear program has leaped forward, including by enriching uranium to 60%, a technical step from the levels needed for a bomb.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday he hoped that the talks would lead to peace, adding that "We've been very clear what Iran is never going to have a nuclear weapon, and I think that's what led to this meeting."
Tehran responded the following day, saying it was giving the United States a "genuine chance" despite what it called Washington's "prevailing confrontational hoopla".
Washington's ally Israel, which regards Iran's nuclear program as an existential threat, has long threatened to attack Iran if diplomacy fails to curb its nuclear ambitions.
Tehran's influence throughout the Middle East has been severely curbed, with its regional allies - known as the "Axis of Resistance" - either dismantled or badly hurt since the start of the Israel’s war on Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza and the fall of Bashar Assad in Syria in December.
The Axis includes not only Hamas but also Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and various Shi'ite armed groups in Iraq and Syria.
