Officials from the U.S. and Iran were set to meet Saturday in Oman for the highest-level talks on the Islamic Republic’s advancing nuclear program since 2022, a sign of Tehran’s eagerness for sanctions relief and to avoid the crippling military attack that President Donald Trump has threatened.
Each side’s distrust of the other runs deep, even complicating the path to having their emissaries sit down together. Trump has insisted the talks will be “direct,” while Iranian officials just as assertively maintain they’ll be “indirect.”
Although both sides want a deal, there’s a gap between what they want and will accept, raising the odds that Trump will deliver on his warning of an attack on Iran if no compromise comes together. Trump told reporters Wednesday that he’d “absolutely” consider using military action. Israel, he said, would be “very much be involved, the leader of” any military action.
