After sources revealed that two senior officials in U.S. President Joe Biden's administration held indirect talks with Iranian officials in Oman this week regarding how to prevent escalation in regional conflicts, the Iranian mission to the United Nations confirmed the matter. The mission noted that these discussions with the U.S. side are part of an "ongoing process." It clarified in a statement that "these negotiations were not the first and will not be the last," according to local official media reports on Saturday evening.
This comes after insider sources disclosed last Friday that two senior officials in the Biden administration conducted indirect discussions with Iranian officials in Oman to address how to avoid escalation in attacks in the region, as reported by Axios. The sources indicated that the talks focused on clarifying the consequences of Iran's actions and its proxies in the region, and discussed U.S. concerns regarding the status of Iran's nuclear program.
They noted that these discussions, which included Biden's senior advisor for Middle Eastern affairs, Brett McGurk, and Abram Paley, the acting U.S. envoy for Iran, were the first between the U.S. and Iran since January when similar negotiations were held in Oman.
These negotiations followed just over a month after an unprecedented missile attack by Iran on Israel on April 13, which brought the Middle East to the brink of regional war. After a few days, Israel retaliated by targeting an S-300 air defense system in an Iranian airbase.
Following this, several Iranian military officials threatened that their country is ready to respond strongly if Israel were to attack again. Since the outbreak of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, following an assault by Hamas on Israeli settlements and military bases in the Gaza border area, several Iranian-backed factions and militias have mobilized across various fronts, from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon, particularly Hezbollah, as well as the Houthis in Yemen.
These factions have launched multiple drone and missile attacks toward Israel and vessels in the Red Sea, under the banner of "Unity of Battlefields," previously promoted by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, threatening further actions if the war on the Palestinian enclave, now in its seventh month, continues, raising international and regional concerns about the expansion of the conflict.
