Daily Times

Iran’s top diplomat Wednesday held “constructive” talks with his Omani counterpart in Muscat, a day after Tehran held discussions in Doha on its nuclear programme with Qatari and EU officials.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is on a tour of the Gulf that will see the Iranian foreign minister also making stops later in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

On Wednesday, he met with Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi who said they discussed “continued consultations and cooperation” on issues of bilateral concern. “There is great consensus in the visions of the two states on a series of issues… that will contribute to stability, security and peace,” he said, quoted by the official Oman News Agency.

Amir-Abdollahian, for his part, called the meeting “constructive” and praised the effective cooperation between the two sides, ONA said.

Iran said last week it had been engaged in indirect negotiations with the United States through Oman, with nuclear issues, US sanctions and detainees on the agenda.

The following day, Iran’s nuclear negotiator said he had met with diplomats from three European countries in Abu Dhabi to discuss a number of issues including the country’s nuclear programme. A landmark deal reached in 2015 between Iran and world powers was designed to prevent Tehran from secretly developing a nuclear bomb, a goal the Islamic republic has always denied.

The United States under then-president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018, before Iran began backing away from its own commitments, including by stepping up its enrichment of uranium. The administration of US President Joe Biden has sought to revive the deal, but the process has stalled in on-off talks since 2021. In recent weeks, the two sworn enemies have denied media reports that they were close to reaching an interim deal to replace the 2015 accord.

In Doha on Tuesday, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, held talks with the European Union’s Iran nuclear talks coordinator Enrique Mora.

“I had a serious and constructive meeting with Enrique Mora in Doha,” he said on social media on Wednesday. “We discussed and exchanged opinions on a range of issues, including negotiations to lift sanctions.”

EU spokesperson Peter Stano confirmed the meeting, saying the bloc was “keeping diplomatic channels open, including through this meeting in Doha, to address all issues of concern with Iran”.