US & Iran held indirect talks in Oman to avoid escalation in Middle East: Report

The United States and Iran held indirect talks in Oman this month to avoid escalation in the Middle East, according to a report.

The US and Iran do not have diplomatic relations and do not engage with each-other directly. The relations were severed after Iran declared the US as its principal enemy following the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and dubbed it as the “Great Satan”.

The reported US-Iran talks took place a month after Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel that pushed the Middle East to the brink of war. The measured Israeli response and subsequent Iranian inaction brought the tensions down. Before last month, Iran had never struck Israel, its other principal enemy along with that of the United States.

Top Biden administration officials involved in talks: Report

Two top officials of the Joe Biden administration of the US, Brett McGurk and Abram Paley were engaged in the indirect talks with Iran mediated by Oman, according to Axios.

McGurk is the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa. Paley is the Deputy Special Envoy for Iran.

The talks were intended to avoid escalating attacking in the Middle East and working towards stability in the region, as per the report.

The reported talks would be the first time the US and Iran would have engaged in January when similar talks were held in Oman. Those talks took place amid rising attacks by Yemen-based Houthis in the Red Sea which disrupted the world maritime trade. Houthis are among the anti-US and anti-Israel armed groups, along with the likes of Hezbollah and Hamas, that Iran sponsors in the region.

The talks involving McGurk and Paley were held on Tuesday, as per the report.

‘We have ways to communicate with Iran when needed’

While the US Department of State did not comment on the reported talks in Oman, Deputy State Department Spokesperson Vedant Patel said that the Biden administration has ways to communicate with Iran when needed, according to Axios.

Patel further said that the Biden administration’s current assessment is that Iran is not currently working to make a nuclear weapon.

Patel said, “The Biden administration continues to assess that Iran is not currently undertaking the key activities that would be necessary to produce a testable nuclear device.”

Patel further said that the US assessment does not say that the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had made a decision “to resume the weaponization program that we judge Iran suspended or stopped at the end of 2003”.

Last year, the top US military general had said that Iran could develop a nuclear weapon within months of making a decision to do so.

“From the time of a national decision, Iran could produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon in approximately 10-15 days and it would only take several months to produce an actual nuclear weapon. The United States remains committed, as a matter of policy, that Iran will not have a fielded nuclear weapon. The United States military has developed multiple options for our national leadership to consider, if or when Iran decides to develop a nuclear weapon,” said General Mark Milley in March 2023, who was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time.

An Iranian nuclear weapon is seen as Israel as an existential threat. It is also feared that an Iranian nuclear weapon may ignite a nuclear arms race in the region as Saudi Arabia will also then seek a weapon.