Officials in President Joe Biden's administration held indirect talks with Iranian officials this week in Oman regarding the escalation in the region. Sources familiar with the details reported to the "Walla" website that President Biden's Middle East advisor Brett McGurk and U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley attended from the American side. This is the first round of indirect negotiations between the two parties since January, when a similar meeting took place in Oman.
These indirect talks occurred about a month after an unprecedented Iranian attack on Israel, which threatened to ignite a regional war in the Middle East. One of the central objectives the United States has been pursuing since October 7 is to prevent the war in Gaza from escalating into a regional conflict, with Washington believing that Iran has influence over its proxies and allies in the region, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, armed groups in Syria and Iraq that carry out attacks against U.S. forces, and the Houthis in Yemen, who target ships in the Red Sea.
The sources indicated that McGurk and Malley arrived in Oman on Tuesday and met with Omani mediators. However, the identity of the Iranian representatives participating in the talks remains unclear. The sources noted that during the discussions, the United States outlined what the repercussions of Iranian and its proxies' operations in the region could be and expressed concerns over the escalation of Iran's nuclear program.
