Iran’s foreign minister said on Sunday that Tehran’s right to enrich uranium on its own soil must be recognized for nuclear talks with the United States to succeed, two days after the two sides held indirect discussions in Muscat aimed at testing whether diplomacy can be revived.
As Iranian and US negotiators met in Oman on Friday to discuss the framework for renewed talks, Friday prayer leaders across Iran used their sermons to dismiss the process, expressing near-uniform pessimism about the prospects for diplomacy.
As Iran and the US convene in Oman for bilateral talks, reports suggest Muslim-majority states are pushing for a framework that would include a non-aggression pact, curbs on Iran’s nuclear program and its arms support for allied militants, and reassurances on its missiles.
A day of confusion, warnings and behind-the-scenes maneuvering ended with a fresh announcement that US–Iran talks were back on track, underscoring how fragile and contested the diplomatic process remains on the eve of a possible meeting.
As hopes for talks with the United States flicker and fade, Iran’s chronic factional infighting once again appears to have torpedoed a diplomatic opening—even before it properly began.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio doubled down on Washington’s demand that any talks with Iran extend well beyond its nuclear program, while expressing doubt that negotiations would ultimately succeed.
Monday’s cautious optimism about renewed US–Iran diplomacy took several blows on Tuesday, as Tehran reportedly signaled fresh conditions for talks and Iranian and American forces clashed at sea.
The reappearance of diplomacy between Washington and Tehran is being shadowed by limited but dangerous military showdowns, revealing how narrow the space for negotiation has become in the absence of trust.
Conflicting voices in Tehran on the competing prospects of war and diplomacy with Washington may be deliberate, but they more likely reflect an absence of consensus at the top.
Regional powers including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Oman are trying to bring Iran and the United States to talks in Istanbul on Friday, officials say, to stave off war – starting with Tehran’s nuclear file despite a wide gap over US demands on missiles and allied militias.
Tehran appears to have taken the US military buildup near Iran seriously, but shows no sign of softening its rhetoric or accepting Washington’s terms while it explores limited diplomatic channels.
President Donald Trump’s response to Iran’s recent unrest appears to reflect a strategy of gunboat diplomacy: the use of military pressure, rhetorical escalation, and economic coercion to extract concessions without committing to war or formal regime change.
As the threat of attack by the United States looms, Iranian commentators are sounding the alarm on the existential danger they see to Tehran, with one former envoy even saying US President Donald Trump should be hosted for talks.
Iranians’ chants against the Islamic Republic—muted for now by brute force—are viewed in Turkey not as a struggle for freedom but as a geopolitical risk from migration and militancy.
Russia likely views Iran’s mass anti-regime protests with deep unease, but may ultimately adapt just as it did in Syria to preserve influence whether the Islamic Republic survives or a new political order emerges.
The thank-you note from US President Donald Trump to Iran’s leadership for halting what he described as planned mass executions reveals much about his politics, but more about the rulers in Tehran who have canonised deception as a political instrument.
The public rancor between US President Donald Trump and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has gotten increasingly personal, suggesting that a standoff once mediated through proxies and carefully coded threats may be approaching a finale.
Any flare-up of tensions, even a conflict targeting a single country, would have serious consequences for the entire Middle East, Iran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia warned, as Tehran said it has held intensified contacts with Arab states to prevent a wider confrontation.
A senior Iranian diplomat based at the United Nations’ European headquarters in Geneva has left his post and applied for asylum in Switzerland, diplomatic sources told Iran International, amid mounting political unrest in Iran.
Turkey has adopted a calculated caution during the recent waves of protests in neighboring Iran, avoiding endorsement of those who took to the streets while stopping short of backing Tehran’s violent crackdown.
Any US military action against Iran risks falling short if it mirrors past “one-off” strikes without sustained political and economic pressure, analysts warned during an Iran International Insight town hall on Wednesday amid mounting fears of a US attack.
Washington and Tehran on Monday both indicated they seek talks to avoid a clash as tensions rise over Iran's deadly crackdown on protests but the bitter arch-foes indicated they were also ready to fight should diplomacy fail.