DUBAI, Feb 10 — A top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader discussed ways to reach a "balanced and just" agreement with the United States (US) during talks in Oman on Tuesday, as Washington and Tehran prepare to resume negotiations aimed at averting a new conflict.
Oman facilitated talks between Iran and the US last week, which a spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry said had allowed Tehran to gauge Washington's seriousness and showed enough consensus for diplomacy to continue.
The talks came after US President Donald Trump positioned a naval flotilla in the region, raising fears of new military action. Trump, who joined an Israeli bombing campaign last year and hit Iranian nuclear sites, had threatened last month to intervene militarily during a bloody government crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran, but ultimately held off.
"After the talks, we felt there was understanding and consensus to continue the diplomatic process," said the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei.
Baghaei added that Tuesday's trip to Oman by Ali Larijani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been planned in advance, and that Larijani would travel next to Qatar, which has also mediated in several Middle East crises.
Oil prices eased on Tuesday as traders remained focused on Iran-US tensions.
Difference over whether to discuss missile stockpile
Oman's state news agency said Larijani and Omani Sultan Haitham bin Tariq discussed ways to reach a "balanced and just" agreement between Iran and the US, stressing the importance of returning to dialogue to bridge differences and promote regional and global peace and security.
Iranian state media said the meeting lasted nearly three hours. The date and venue of the next round of US-Iran talks have yet to be announced.
Washington is seeking to expand the scope of negotiations with Iran beyond the nuclear issue to curb Iran's ballistic missile programme, one of the biggest in the Middle East.
Tehran says its missile arsenal has been rebuilt since last year's 12-day bombing campaign by Israel and the US, and that its stockpile is non-negotiable.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to use a meeting with Trump in Washington on Wednesday to push for any US-Iran deal to include limitations on Tehran's missiles.
Baghaei said the US "must act independently of foreign pressures, especially Israeli pressures that ignore the interests of the region and even the US".
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that in any negotiations, Iran would continue to demand the lifting of financial sanctions and insist on its nuclear rights, including enrichment.
Washington has demanded Iran relinquish its stockpile of uranium enriched to up to 60 per cent fissile purity, a small step away from the 90 per cent that is considered weapons grade.
Vance says Trump will decide red lines
On Monday, Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation head Mohammad Eslami said: "The possibility of diluting 60 per cent enriched uranium...depends on whether, in return, all sanctions are lifted or not".
During a visit to Armenia on Monday, US Vice President JD Vance responded to a query on whether Washington would allow limited uranium enrichment by Iran by saying: "I think President Trump is going to make the ultimate determination about where we draw the red lines in the negotiations."
Iran and the US held five rounds of talks last year on curbing Tehran's nuclear programme, with the process breaking down mainly due to disputes over uranium enrichment inside Iran.
Since Trump struck Iran's facilities, Tehran has said it has halted enrichment activity. It has always maintained that its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.
