Saturday's exchanges were indirect and mediated by Oman, as Iran had wanted, rather than face-to-face as Trump had demanded
Each delegation had its separate room and exchanged messages via Oman's foreign minister, according to Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said his delegation had a brief encounter with its US counterpart headed by Witkoff, after they exited the talks
Araqchi said,
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"After the end of more than 2-1/2 hours of indirect talks, the heads of the Iranian and American delegations spoke for a few minutes in the presence of the Omani foreign minister as they left the talks It (the encounter) was based on our political etiquette"
an Omani source told Reuters,
Quote
"The current focus of the talks will be de-escalating regional tensions, prisoner exchanges and limited agreements to ease sanctions (against Iran) in exchange for controlling Iran's nuclear programme"
Baghaei denied this account but did not specify what was false
Trump, who in his first term withdrew the US from a 2015 big-power accord with Tehran, has again brought a tougher approach to a Middle Eastern power whose nuclear programme Washington's ally Israel regards as an existential threat
At the same time, Iran and allied groups have been weakened by the military offensives Israel has launched across the region, including air strikes in Iran, during its war with Hamas after the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza in October 2023
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's ambassador to international bodies in Vienna, called the statements issued by both sides after the talks "encouraging" Never mind Ukraine
