White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says talks with Iran are still scheduled to take place later this week after the US military shot down an Iranian drone that approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.
Iran is also seeking to move talks with the US to Oman rather than Türkiye, and that the scope be narrowed to two-way negotiations on nuclear issues only, a regional source told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday, adding new complications to an already delicate diplomatic effort.
“They want to change the format, they want to change the scope,” said the regional diplomat with knowledge of Iran’s demands.
“They only want to discuss the nuclear file with the Americans while the US wants to include other topics such as the (ballistic) missiles and the activities of Iran’s proxies in the region.”
Regional players have pushed for resolution of a standoff that has led to mutual threats of air strikes and stirred fears of escalation into a wider war.
President Donald Trump said that with US warships heading to Iran, “bad things” would probably happen if a deal could not be reached.
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