President Donald Trump’s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff will lead the US side in talks over a new nuclear deal with Iran, a person familiar with this weekend’s meeting in Oman confirmed to CNN.
The administration believes, as Trump said yesterday, that these will be direct talks between the two sides, the source said.
But Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said talks with Witkoff will be indirect, Iran’s semi-official media outlet Tasnim News reported earlier today.
Oman will mediate the talks, according to Tasnim, despite Trump saying yesterday that direct talks between the US and Iran had already begun.
The two parties will discuss Iranian denuclearization, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America’s court,” Araghchi said on X yesterday.
Some background: Tehran and Washington have not engaged in direct formal talks since the Obama administration negotiated the Iran nuclear deal in 2015, when Iran gave up most of its nuclear capability in return for better integration into the global economy.
Iran restarted its nuclear programs after Trump quashed that deal in 2018.
Israeli reaction: The talks are “certainly not” to Israel’s liking, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Trump announced them while seated next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office yesterday. The sudden revelation appeared to surprise Netanyahu, with a smile quickly vanishing from his face as he looked toward his team of advisers. It’s unclear if Netanyahu was given an advance notice or if he was consulted ahead of time, the sources said.
Eugenia Yosef and Michael Schwartz contributed reporting.
