- Iran’s Larijani discusses US talks during Oman visit.
- Iran slams Israel for sabotaging regional diplomatic efforts.
- Tehran and Washington resumed talks in Muscat after months.
Iran’s top security official met the Sultan of Oman in Muscat on Tuesday, days after a first round of talks there between officials from Washington and Tehran last Friday.
Ali Larijani, who heads the Supreme National Security Council, and Sultan Haitham bin Tariq “discussed the latest developments in the Iranian-American negotiations”, the official Oman News Agency said.
Larijani also met Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who mediated Friday’s indirect talks between US and Iranian officials, according to photos shared on Larijani’s official Telegram channel.
Larijani and Sultan Haitham also explored “ways to reach a balanced and just agreement between the two sides, and emphasised the importance of returning to the table of dialogue and negotiation”.
During his trip to Muscat, Larijani also met Mohammad Abdulsalam, the spokesperson for Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi rebels.
Larijani will head to Qatar next, according to Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei.
The trip comes after Iran and the United States resumed negotiations in Oman on Friday for the first time since the 12-day Iran-Israel war last June, which was briefly joined by the US military.
Meanwhile, Iran warned Tuesday of “destructive” influence on diplomacy ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington for talks expected to focus on US negotiations with Tehran.
“Our negotiating party is America. It is up to America to decide to act independently of the pressures and destructive influences that are detrimental to the region,” said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei in a weekly press briefing.
“The Zionist regime has repeatedly, as a saboteur, shown that it opposes any diplomatic process in our region that leads to peace.”
