US-Iran talks to be held on Friday in Oman

US-Iran nuclear talks are expected to be held in Oman on Friday (6 February) after the Trump administration agreed to Tehran’s request to move the venue from Turkey.

Tehran seeks to ensure the scope of its negotiations with the Trump administration is limited solely to its nuclear programme. The talks come as US President Donald Trump weighs possible military options against the Islamic Republic, and were initially expected to be held in Istanbul with regional states attending as observers. Tehran wanted the discussions to take place in Muscat, with just the US attending. The request signalled that Iran wants the format to mirror those of its negotiations with the US last year, which focused on Iran’s nuclear programme and not the broader range of issues, such as the future of its ballistic missile arsenal, that Washington has previously demanded, writes The Financial Times.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian declared on Tuesday (3 February) that he had instructed Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to pursue talks proposed by US President Donald Trump.

Asked by European Jewih Press about Friday’s talks between the US and Iran, Barak Seener, Associate Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society in London, said that "while Iran may make some concessions regarding its enrichment of uranium, it will not deny itself the future potential to continue developing a nuclear capability, which the Iranian regime sees as critical for its survivability".

"This certainly extends to the regime’s ballistic missile capabilities. As a result, the current choices are for the US and Israel to have a joint military operation to strike Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities. The alternative is for Israel at a minimum to militarily strike at Iran’s ballistic missile program," he added.

For him, military intervention aimed at the Iranian regime collapse ‘’must be part of a multi-pronged strategy that includes covert action targeting regime command and control as well as targeting the IRGC and Basij, offering financial inducements and sanctuary abroad for regime officials to defect, a communications campaign to counter the regime’s disinformation and redefine Persian nationalism, increasing sanctions, coordinating the positions and activities of the Iranian opposition, and engaging with secessionist groups.’’

Barak Seener is the author of a report titled Regime collapse in Iran: A necessity for regional stability.  See the report here.

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