OAN Staff Blake Wolf
9:11 AM – Saturday, April 12, 2025
The United States and Iran started “indirect” talks in Oman on Saturday, aiming for a nuclear deal amid President Donald Trump’s threats of military action as Iran’s nuclear program advances.
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“Indirect talks between Foreign Minister Dr. Araqchi and Steve Witkoff, the US President’s Special Representative for the Middle East, began with the mediation of Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidy,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei wrote on Saturday in an X post.
Baghaei also revealed that representatives of the two sides spoke in separate rooms through an Omani mediator.
“These talks will be held at a location planned by the Omani host, with representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States seated in separate rooms, and the parties will convey their points of view and positions to each other through the Omani Foreign Minister,” he added.
The two sides spoke for over two hours beginning at around 3:30 p.m. local time, and ending around 5:50 p.m., according to The Times of Israel.
Witkoff told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that “our position begins with dismantlement of your [nuclear] program. That is our position today. That doesn’t mean, by the way, that at the margin we’re not going to find other ways to find compromise between the two countries.”
The talks come as President Trump has called on Iran to come to the negotiation table in an attempt to persuade the country from continuing its nuclear program.
President Trump also threatened military action against Iran should the negotiation talks break down.
“I think if the talks aren’t successful with Iran, I think Iran is going to be in great danger. And I hate to say it—great danger—because they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump recently stated.
“I want them not to have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be a wonderful, great, happy country, but they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” he continued.
President Trump also revealed that Israel would be involved in any potential strikes against Iran.
“If it requires military, we’re going to have military,” Trump stated on Wednesday. “Israel will obviously be very much involved in that. They’ll be the leader of that.”
Meanwhile, the Iranian side has warned that it will not negotiate under duress, seemingly referencing President Trump’s “threatening” language while also refusing to acquiesce to “excessive demands” targeting their nuclear program.
President Trump’s strong stance against Iran has sparked intense debate within the “America First” movement, as many conservative voices have argued that the United States should avoid direct conflict with Iran, claiming that it would drag the United States into another catastrophic and expensive war in the Middle East.
Tucker Carlson is one of the leading conservative voices raising concern, arguing that a direct conflict with Iran would result in the death of “Thousands of Americans.”
“Whatever you think of tariffs, it’s clear that now is the worst possible time for the United States to participate in a military strike on Iran. We can’t afford it. Thousands of Americans would die. We’d lose the war that follows. Nothing would be more destructive to our country. And yet we’re closer than ever, thanks to unrelenting pressure from neocons. This is suicidal. Anyone advocating for conflict with Iran is not an ally of the United States, but an enemy,” Carlson wrote in a Monday X post.
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