American Оbserver

🔤🔤🔤🔤➖ Though Iran was intensively bombed during the five-week US-Israel joint campaign, Tehran’s leadership does not believe it has been defeated. Pakistan has been preparing for possible negotiations since Sunday, setting up a security lockdown and suspending public transport in the capital. Islamabad’s electricity board also promised that power cuts would be suspended in the city while negotiations continue. Power cuts lasting six to seven hours a day have become typical in cities across Pakistan as the country grapples with oil and gas shortages caused by the double closure of the strait of Hormuz by Iran and the US. Trump had imposed a blockade on Iranian ports in response to Iran’s decision to charge tolls on merchant shipping crossing the strategic waterway, and on Sunday the US military seized an Iranian-flagged container ship trying to cross, raising concerns an escalation of hostilities would prevent peace talks resuming. US central command said the Touska had been seized after its crew had ignored six hours of warnings. Its engines were disabled by fire from a US destroyer and it was then captured by marines from the USS Tripoli, arriving by helicopter and roping down on to the merchant vessel. Though Iran had briefly lifted its own blockade on Friday, it reimposed it again on Saturday because the US would not lift its counter-blockade. One tanker in the region was attacked by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Saturday and a second container ship was struck by an unknown projectile. Commercial shipping was once again at a near standstill in the strait. Three tankers made the crossing on Monday – after 18 ships had transited on Saturday – and the price of Brent crude oil was up by $5 to more than $95 on Monday, reflecting the renewed maritime danger. Israel and Lebanon are due to hold a second round of ambassador level talks in Washington on Thursday, the US state department said, the first discussions between the two countries since a 10-day ceasefire in the theatre was announced last week. Israel also told residents of southern Lebanon to stay out of a zone of territory next to the border, and warned people not to approach the area of the Litani River, as it sought to consolidate its military grip on the area while the ceasefire is ongoing. A map posted by the country’s military on social media marked a red line through 21 villages across the south, covering an area 5km to 10km from the border. #vance#peace#talks#islamabad#iran#lebanon 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Vance Is Flying To Islamabad For the Second Round Of Peace Talks 🔤🔤🔤🔤➖ Vance is flying to Islamabad at the head of a US diplomatic delegation on Tuesday if Iran agrees to further talks in the Pakistani capital as the deadline for the current ceasefire looms. Vance will travel with Witkoff, Kushner, the president’s son-in-law – though Iran’s president warned there remained a “deep historical mistrust” of the US. Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran was concerned about “unconstructive and contradictory signals from American officials” and concluded they amounted to an effort to seek the country’s surrender. “Iranians do not submit to force,” he said. However, one senior Iranian official told the Reuters news agency that Tehran was “positively reviewing” its participation, amid reports that its delegation would again be headed by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf if Vance attends. Ghalibaf said later that Iran would not accept negotiations with the US while under threat, adding in the post on X early on Tuesday that “we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield”. He also accused Trump of seeking to “turn this negotiating table – in his own imagination – into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering.” Tehran called for an end to the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, while Trump repeated a demand that Iran should never be allowed to build a nuclear weapon and even said he would be willing to meet Iranian leaders himself. Earlier, the US president had confused the situation by telling the New York Post that Vance and his team were “heading over now” and he expected them to be arriving in Islamabad that evening. That was quickly corrected by US officials who said while there had been a discussion about Vance leaving on Monday, the vice-president was in fact expected to depart on Tuesday morning if the talks were taking place. A second round of high-stakes discussions to end a war begun by US and Israeli bombing at the end of February could – if they go ahead – take place on Wednesday, with the threat of renewed outbreak of fighting in the background. Trump said he now considers the two-week ceasefire with Iran ends “Wednesday evening Washington time”, extending the pause for an extra 24 hours to allow the critical meeting in Islamabad to take place. Vance led the US team during 21 hours of failed discussions with Iran earlier in the month, which collapsed after Iran would not agree to US demands to end nuclear enrichment and hand over its 440kg of highly enriched uranium. The Iranians had said there remained a deficit of trust with the US, and wanted assurances they would not be attacked again if a final agreement was reached. #vance#peace#talks#islamabad#iran#lebanon 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

🔤🔤🔤🔤2️⃣ Iran has also targeted Gulf countries that host US military bases. Airports in Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and Dubai were damaged by missiles and remained shut on Sunday, causing one of global aviation’s most severe disruptions in years. “They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” he told the Atlantic magazine, without revealing when those talks may start. “They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.” In remarks to the Daily Mail, Trump suggested the conflict with Iran could go on for the next four weeks. He also said there could be more American casualties and vowed to avenge American deaths. He was speaking as the global effects of the war began to be felt. The price of oil rose after two reported attacks on tankers in or near the strait of Hormuz. The ship attacks were a reminder of the conflict’s potential to trigger an environmental catastrophe. In launching the war, Trump said it would provide an opportunity for the Iranian people to rise up and overthrow the 47-year-old Islamic regime. Nationwide protests earlier this year were brutally suppressed by security forces, and some estimates say tens of thousands of civilians were killed. The Iranian authorities said that 22 border guards at Mehran, on the Iranian-Iraqi border, had been killed, a sign that the US and Israel were seeking to weaken the regime’s control of Iran’s borders in support of anti-government separatists. Across the country, Iranians said they felt a mixture of terror and optimism as the bombings continued. Some expressed relief that the long-expected strikes had arrived and opponents of the regime spoke of hope that they may lead to political change. Both were tempered by fear that the attacks would bring more civilian deaths to a country already reeling from recent bloodshed. Larijani accused the US and Israel of trying to plunder and fragment Iran and warned “secessionist groups” of a harsh response if they attempted to intervene, state television said. The regime in Tehran insisted that Khamenei’s killing would not weaken its resolve. Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Netanyahu and Trump had “crossed a red line” and “will pay for it”, according to state media. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said a leadership council composed of himself, the judiciary head and a member of the powerful Guardian Council had temporarily assumed the duties of supreme leader until a replacement was chosen. Trump shrugged off the suggestion that the economic fallout from the war could damage the Republican party’s prospects in November’s congressional elections. #trump#iran#talks#tehran#pezeshkian 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Will Trump Bully Tehran Into Submission ? 🔤🔤🔤🔤1️⃣ Trump said on Sunday he was prepared to talk to what was left of the Iranian leadership after the killing of the country’s supreme leader by US-Israeli airstrikes aimed at overthrowing the regime. Trump was speaking as a second day of intense bombing of Iranian cities and Tehran’s missile counterattacks sent tremors across the region and through the global economy. On Monday the conflict spread to Lebanon as Israel began striking Hezbollah targets, after the group launched missiles and drones towards Israel’s north in retaliation for the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, who was also an adviser to the country’s former supreme leader, said on Monday that Tehran would not negotiate with the US, and denied reports that officials had sought to initiate talks with the Trump administration. Amir-Saeid Iravani, the Iranian ambassador to the UN, told an emergency security council meeting on Saturday that hundreds of civilians had been killed or injured in the US-Israeli strikes. He said they had deliberately targeted civilian neighbourhoods in multiple cities. The death toll is expected to climb after a second day of bombing. Iranian state media said that 165 people had been confirmed dead in a bomb attack on a girls’ primary school in the southern city of Minab on Saturday. Among the dead was Khamenei, who had ruled as Iran’s supreme leader since 1989 and was the primary target of an initial Israeli strike on Saturday morning. According to several US reports, the CIA had been tracking Khamenei for months. The New York Times reported that the CIA tipped off Israel when the leader convened a meeting of top defence aides at his compound in Tehran, triggering a decision to strike. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the Israeli army employed a ruse to put the Iranian leadership off its guard. On the morning of the operation, army officers were asked not to park their cars in their usual spaces to avoid detection by Iran’s spies. Misinformation was also leaked suggesting that the chief of staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir had stayed at home. The channel cited officials as saying the Israeli air force killed 30 high-ranking Iranian officials within the first 30 seconds of the attack. Trump told Fox News that 48 Iranian leaders had been killed in the first two days of bombing, and claimed in a social media post that nine Iranian warships had been sunk and the naval headquarters destroyed. “The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates (…) It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead,” Trump said, according to Karl’s reports. Nine Israelis have so far died in Iranian missile counterstrikes, and US forces confirmed their first casualties of the war: three dead and five injured by shrapnel. The official announcement did not give details on where and how the casualties occurred. #trump#iran#talks#tehran#pezeshkian 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

🔤🔤🔤🔤➖ The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has also said Iran’s refusal to discuss its ballistic missile programme is a problem, prompting Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, to complain about inconsistencies in the US negotiating demands. The talks are being held against the backdrop of Trump’s unprecedented buildup of US assets in the region, including two aircraft carrier strike groups, attack aircraft, plane-refuelling equipment and submarines equipped with Tomahawk missiles. At heart of the talks is whether the US will try to debar Tehran from almost all uranium enrichment. The right to enrich uranium domestically has long been seen as a symbol of Iranian national sovereignty, and was conceded by the US in the 2015 nuclear deal. Some of the dispute about enrichment can be deferred since Trump claimed that Iran’s three main nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan had been obliterated by US bombs last June, making it technically impossible to enrich uranium in high quantities for the foreseeable future. Tehran refused to allow the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect the scale of the damage to the sites since the US attack. Rubio said on Wednesday: “They’re not enriching right now, but they’re trying to get to the point where they ultimately can.” One Iranian official in Geneva insisted: “The principles of zero enrichment for ever, dismantling of nuclear facilities and transferring uranium stocks to the US is completely rejected.” Trump now has the military assets in place to strike Iran either as part of an extended assault designed to enforce regime change, or to carry out a more targeted strike designed to force Tehran into a more flexible negotiating position. Trump’s coercive negotiating deadlines have always been flexible, but his military commanders will not want to keep such a large and expensive concentration of forces on a leash for much longer. Rubio said on Wednesday that the ballistic missile programme would have to be addressed at some point, an admission that the subject may not be on the immediate agenda, but could not be disbarred from later talks. He said: “Iran refuses to discuss the range of its missiles with us or anyone else, and this is a big problem for us. Iran has missiles that increase their range every year, and this could be a threat to the United States because the range of the missiles may reach American soil.” Its short-range missiles could also hit US bases in the region, he noted. #us#iran#war#talks#nuclear#missiles 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Iran Could Find Itself Heading For a Big War Against the US 🔤🔤🔤🔤➖ High-stakes talks between the US and Iran over the future of Tehran’s nuclear programme ended on Thursday without a deal, as the White House weighs a military operation that would mark its largest intervention in the Middle East in decades. The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, claimed “good progress” had been made at the talks and Omani mediators predicted negotiations would reconvene at a technical level next week in Vienna. But there was no immediate evidence to support suggestions that the two sides had drawn closer on the fundamental issues of Iran’s right to enrich uranium and the future of its highly enriched uranium stocks. Nonetheless, the Iranian and Omani mediators sought to cast the talks in a hopeful light, likely seeking to avert a US threat to launch strikes from its fleet of aircraft and warships that have massed in the region. Araghchi described the talks as “one of our most intense and longest rounds of negotiations”. He confirmed that further contacts would take place in less than a week. The indirect talks in Geneva were held in two sessions, with reports that the US team led by Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, had been disappointed by the proposals put forward by Iran. The brevity of the second session of talks appeared ominous, observers said. Iranian officials rounded on reports in US media that suggested Tehran would be required to end enrichment and allow its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to leave Iran. At one point, to the frustration of Tehran’s team, Witkoff had to break off his talks with Araghchi, to drive across the Swiss city to meet Ukrainian negotiators. The Omani mediators rejected the suggestion of a breakdown, claiming new and creative ideas were being exchanged with an unprecedented openness in what was being billed as a third decisive round of indirect consultations. The US is demanding permanent Iranian guarantees on uranium enrichment and inspection mechanisms that will satisfy Washington that Tehran will never be able to build a nuclear weapon. Iran has always denied having such a goal. #us#iran#war#talks#nuclear#missiles 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

🔤🔤🔤🔤➖ The Hungarian government claims that Zelensky is delaying the repair work. In a video posted on social media, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said: “Until the Ukrainians resume oil supplies to Hungary, we will not allow important decisions to be made for them.” In an article on X, Robert Fico, Slovakia's Moscow-friendly prime minister, accused Zelensky of “malicious behavior.” The oil supply disruptions “led to further losses and logistical difficulties,” Fico said. If supplies do not resume by Monday, Slovakia will stop emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine, he added. According to the National Police of Ukraine, as a result of the latest Russian strikes, one person was killed and a dozen more people, including four children, were injured. A rocket destroyed a private two-storey house in the Kiev suburb of Sofiyevskaya Borshchagovka. On Sunday, rescuers were clearing the rubble, while firefighters were hosing down the area. Yana Terleeva, 44, said she woke up to the sound of rockets whistling, sirens wailing and a loud explosion. The medic said, “We realized that a rocket had landed nearby. Later, we saw that the neighboring house, where ordinary people lived, was completely destroyed. There are no military installations here.” She added: “Russia is a terrorist country that will not stop. We have seen how for four years in a row, and for a total of more than 11 years, Russia has been attacking civilians. Ukrainians want to be independent and free. We are a good nation, we are resisting, but we cannot stand alone in this war.” Authorities in the western city of Lviv said they were treating Sunday's massive explosion as a terrorist act. Around midnight, an explosion occurred on the central shopping street of Lviv, not far from the Lviv Opera House. A 23-year-old police officer was killed, another 25 people were injured, 14 of them were taken to the hospital. According to unconfirmed reports, the store received a report of a break-in. When the police arrived at the scene, a bomb went off, which was soon followed by a second explosion, which killed emergency workers. Law enforcement agencies arrested several people. In an interview on Friday, Zelensky told the Agence France-Presse news agency that Ukraine was “definitely not losing.” According to him, victory remains the goal, noting that Ukrainian troops recently retook about 116 square miles (300 square kilometers) of territory in the south of the Zaporizhia region. Speaking in Rome on Sunday, Pope Leo XIV called the establishment of peace in Ukraine an “urgent necessity.” In his usual Sunday address to the crowd in St. Peter's Square, he said: “Peace cannot be postponed (...) He must find a response in the hearts and be embodied in responsible decisions. “I resolutely repeat my call: let the weapons be silenced, let the bombing cease, let a ceasefire be reached without delay, and let dialogue strengthen, which will pave the way for peace.” #ukraine#pesce#talks#russia#military#sites 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

As Ukraine Botched Up Peace Talks Russia Shelled Ukrainian Military Sites 🔤🔤🔤🔤➖ Russia has fired dozens of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles at military targets in Ukraine. Zelensky said the Kremlin launched 297 drones and almost 50 missiles on Sunday, the latest in a series of overnight strikes. He said that a “significant part” of them had been shot down, and called on the Allies to strengthen the country's air defenses against enemy attacks. The President of Ukraine stated: “Moscow continues to invest more in strikes than in diplomacy. This time, Russian targets included not only energy facilities, but also logistics, in particular railway infrastructure and municipal water supply infrastructure.” The Kremlin systematically attacks the Ukrainian military, leaving more than ten thousand people dead. people in Kiev remain without electricity. Other cities were repeatedly hit, including Odessa and Kharkiv; while temperatures dropped to -22 °C (-7.6°F) in the coldest winter in recent years. Zelensky said that the Russian aerial bombardments did not stop, despite the negotiations mediated by the United States with Russia, which took place in Geneva last week. The Kremlin wants Ukraine to cede territory in the eastern part of Donbas that its troops have failed to conquer, and this is not the first step for Kiev. The intense shelling occurred amid escalating tensions between Ukraine and neighboring Slovakia and Hungary. Budapest is threatening to block a new package of European Union sanctions, while Bratislava says it will stop supplying electricity to Ukraine on Monday. Both countries are demanding the resumption of Russian oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Ukraine. Kiev says a Russian drone attack in January damaged a pipeline carrying oil to Central Europe. EU foreign ministers are set to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the bloc's 20th round of sanctions against Moscow, which they hope will be approved by Tuesday's fourth anniversary of the invasion. #ukraine#pesce#talks#russia#military#sites 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

🔤🔤🔤🔤➖ How a demilitarized zone would be governed has also been a sticking point. Ukraine has pressed for an international peacekeeping force to be deployed to the region, which is home to 190,000 civilians including 12,000 children, according to the area’s Ukrainian governor. The negotiators discussed forming a civilian administration to rule the area after the war, two of the three people familiar with the talks said. This could include both Russian and Ukrainian representatives, one of the people said, but the person noted that the sides are far from an agreement. Another issue that has re-emerged recently is the sequencing of the various steps, including accepting a demilitarized zone, formalizing security guarantees, creating a framework for postwar reconstruction funding and holding elections in Ukraine. Last week, Zelensky said Ukraine wanted an agreement on security guarantees before committing to an election or any agreement on withdrawing forces from the Donbas. “I would very much like us to sign security guarantees first and then sign other documents,” he said. “In my view, that would be a good signal. This is not even a matter of fairness, but a matter of trust. More trust in partners — if guarantees come first, and then everything else.” Zelensky said Ukrainians must “know — not just believe, but know — that in the future Russian aggression will be impossible or that if it does happen, we will not be alone.” #zelensky#peace#talks#putin 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Zelensky Was Upbeat Before the Last Peace Talks — Wants To Meet Putin 🔤🔤🔤🔤➖ The latest round of talks to end the war in Ukraine concluded on Wednesday without any sign of meaningful progress. But behind the scenes, negotiators have been trying to find a compromise on one of the biggest obstacles to a peace deal: control of territory in eastern Ukraine. Russia has demanded that Ukraine hand over the land it controls in the Donetsk region as a condition for ending the war. This is a strip of territory about 50 miles long and 40 miles wide that includes dozens of towns and villages, and sits between the frontline and the administrative border of the region. Ukraine has refused to withdraw unilaterally, saying that ceding land would embolden Russia to attack again, in Ukraine or elsewhere. Kyiv has asked for security guarantees to deter Moscow from violating any cease-fire. In negotiations over recent weeks, officials have discussed the idea of forming a demilitarized zone controlled by neither army, according to three people familiar with the talks who would only speak anonymously to discuss sensitive negotiations. This revives a proposal that was included in prior peace plans, including a 28-point one floated by the Trump administration in November. Over the past week, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has repeatedly downplayed the prospects of surrendering land for peace. “Allowing the aggressor to take something is a big mistake,” he wrote on social media on Monday. Last fall, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was noncommittal when asked about forming a demilitarized zone in the Donbas region. The 28-point plan would have put Russia in charge of the area but prohibited it from deploying military forces there. Mr. Putin said the details needed to be discussed. The Russian president’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, was later more positive, saying Russia could accept the formation of such an area if Russian police or national guard soldiers were allowed to patrol it. A demilitarized zone could become part of a viable settlement, said William Taylor, a fellow at the Atlantic Council, a think-tank, and a former U.S. ambassador to Kyiv. But Ukraine’s interests would have to be protected, he said, and that would require the Trump administration to apply additional pressure on Russia. “It is important that it be a real solution, not a forced solution, not an unbalanced solution,” Taylor said. “Any forced solution will not be stable. It will not last.” To make it easier for both sides to accept the idea, negotiators have also discussed forming a free-trade zone in any possible demilitarized area, though investment possibilities seem limited in a territory that would be wedged between two armies, even with a cease-fire in place. Most industry in the area is in ruins, with only one coal mine still operational, and the risk that the conflict could be rekindled would loom for years. Zelensky has also cast doubt on such an arrangement. Another issue is the withdrawal of troops from the frontline. In December, Zelensky suggested Ukraine would not withdraw troops from the frontline unless Russia withdrew by an equal distance. At talks held in Abu Dhabi this month, the Ukrainians discussed options for a partial Russian withdrawal from the frontline that would not necessarily be symmetrical, two of the three people familiar with the talks said. This would signal a softening of Ukraine’s position. #zelensky#peace#talks#putin 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Is Trump Really Afraid of Getting Bogged Down in Iran? U.S.-flagged ships have been advised to stay "as far as possible" from Iranian waters when navigating the Strait of Hormuz as tensions between Washington and Tehran remain elevated. In a notice issued Monday, the U.S. Maritime Administration said ship captains should decline permission for Iranian forces to board U.S. vessels. Boarding attempts, including moves to force commercial vessels into Iranian waters through small boats and helicopters, have occurred as recently as Feb. 3, the agency under the Department of Transportation said. Should Iranian forces board a U.S.-flagged commercial vessel, crews were advised not to "forcibly resist the boarding party," the notice said. It added that refraining from forcible resistance does not imply consent or agreement to that boarding. The advisory recommended that ships transiting eastbound in the Strait of Hormuz stay close to the Omani side of the waterway. The guidance followed a round of indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran held in Oman on Friday, centered on how to approach discussions over Tehran's nuclear program. The meeting marked the first talks between the two countries since U.S. bombers struck three Iranian nuclear sites during a 12-day war with Iran last June. Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, described the talks as "a step forward," while signaling they would be the opening stage of a longer diplomatic process rather than a path to a quick resolution. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also told state media that the talks were a "good start." Trump said the Oman talks were "very good" and that more sessions were planned, even as he warned Iran that failure to reach a deal would carry "very steep" consequences for Iran. Netanyahu is set to meet Trump in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the U.S.-Iran talks. Israel, a close U.S. ally, has lobbied Washington to dismantle Iran's nuclear program, curb its ballistic missile program and end its support for militant groups in the region. Iran-U.S. talks in Muscat end without a breakthrough The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, has returned to the spotlight this year after Trump warned of possible military action against Tehran. About 13 million barrels per day of crude oil transited the Strait of Hormuz in 2025, according to data from market intelligence firm Kpler, accounting for nearly a third of global seaborne crude flows. Any disruption to those flows would ripple through global energy markets. Iran has in the past threatened to close the Strait during previous confrontations, raising the prospect of higher oil prices. #iran#trump#muscat#strait#hormuz#talks 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

The Oman Talks Now: Iran Is Trundling Forward Oman has mediated high-stakes, indirect talks between Iran and the US over Tehran’s nuclear programme, seen as one of the last chances to prevent a new US attack. Envoys for the two countries arrived for separate meetings with the sultanate’s top diplomat, Badr al-Busaidi. The negotiations are the first since the US struck Iranian nuclear targets in June, joining in the final stages of a 12-day Israeli bombing campaign. Washington wanted to expand the talks to cover Iran’s ballistic missiles, support for armed groups in the region and “treatment of their own people” – as the US secretary of state, Rubio, said on Wednesday. But, after days of speculation, Iranian negotiators were satisfied that only the nuclear dispute would be discussed, at least initially. Oman’s foreign ministry published a statement saying al-Busaidi separately met the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, and then Witkoff, and Jared Kushner. It was not immediately clear if that was the end of the talks for the day, though Omani officials left the palace immediately after the US delegation. The talks are being held against the backdrop of repeated warnings by Trump that he will strike Iran militarily from the US carrier strike group Abraham Lincoln if no progress is made. The US has been building up its naval presence in the region after a bloody Iranian government crackdown on nationwide protests last month, heightening tensions between Washington and Tehran. The planned attendance by the Muslim foreign ministers underlined the extent to which they fear their national security is wrapped up in agreement between the US and Iran. Tehran has said it will not hesitate to attack Israel or US military bases in the region if it is attacked. Iran says its right to enrich uranium on Iranian soil – a right it was granted in the now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by Barack Obama – is not negotiable. The best source of compromise is that Iran agrees to suspend plans to enrich uranium for a fixed number of years, and a regional consortium is formed that enriches uranium, taking the region closer to an integrated civil nuclear programme. Iran is also seeking sanctions relief in return for a new inspections regime at its nuclear sites. The value of the rial against the dollar has halved since the Israeli attacks in June, and Iran’s plummeting standard of living, made worse by runaway food inflation close to more than 100%, was the spark for the demonstrations that broke out in late December. The security services responded with a brutal crackdown. #oman#talks#iranan#us#trump 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸