Iran calls Muscat talks a "good start" and issues stark warning

Iran described indirect negotiations with U.S. envoys in Muscat as "a good start" while making clear the diplomacy sits alongside stepped-up military signals that raise the prospect of escalation across the Middle East.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the separate, mediator-hosted sessions in Oman produced agreement to continue discussions, but that further steps hinge on consultations in national capitals. "It was a good start," Araghchi said, adding, "There was a consensus on the continuation of the talks themselves. It was decided that this process would continue but the timing, manner, and date of that will be decided in the future." He told Iran's state news agency IRNA the conversations had focused "solely" on the nuclear issue and that other topics had not been discussed.

Oman played a central, discreet role. Omani foreign minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi held separate meetings with each side and his ministry said consultations "focused on preparing the appropriate conditions for resuming diplomatic and technical negotiations, while emphasizing their importance, in light of the parties' determination to ensure their success in achieving sustainable security and stability." Photographs released by Iran’s foreign ministry showed Araghchi arriving for talks in Muscat.

Details of U.S. participation were limited in official readouts. One account said U.S. special envoys met with the Omani minister separately; another report said the first round in Muscat lasted about 90 minutes. Beyond those procedural notes, both sides reported that the precise timing and format of future meetings remained to be agreed.

The diplomatic opening unfolded against a backdrop of overt military messaging from Tehran. State broadcaster Press TV unveiled a Khorramshahr-4 ballistic missile on a mobile launcher reportedly moved from an underground base, a system the Iranian outlet said can reach Israel and U.S. bases across the region. Yadollah Javani, a political deputy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, framed the display as part of Iran's negotiating posture: "Unveiling the missile means that although we have sat down at the negotiating table, we will not give up our military power."

Internationally the talks arrived amid an intensified U.S. military presence in the region and wider regional anxieties about a possible strike on Iran's leadership or nuclear facilities. Within Iran, domestic pressures sharpen the stakes: state and local reporting cited acute economic distress, high inflation, and the fallout from recent nationwide unrest, which some analysts say has hardened hawkish sentiment in parts of the population.

Analysts cautioned that Muscat's discreet format reflects both opportunity and fragility. Mahdi Ghuloom of the Observer Research Foundation said Oman is "uniquely credible" as a mediator because it does not seek public credit and can advocate for Tehran's engagement without aligning completely with Washington. Serhan Afacan, head of the Center for Iranian Studies in Ankara, warned of a pattern in which Iranian officials express a willingness to negotiate but then hesitate as talks proceed, a dynamic that risks lengthy diplomacy without concrete outcomes.

For now, Tehran has signaled a dual track: a willingness to talk about the nuclear file while preserving and publicly displaying military capabilities. The next phase of diplomacy will depend on technical consultations and political decisions in Washington and Tehran, even as missile unveils and naval deployments make clear that both sides are preparing for the possibility that talks could fail.