US-Iran talks back on after regional pressure following brief cancellation threat

Nuclear talks between the United States and Iran scheduled for Friday in Muscat, Oman, are back on after a day of intense diplomatic back-and-forth and urgent intervention by regional allies, according to U.S. officials.

Earlier on Wednesday, two senior U.S. officials told Axios that Washington had effectively canceled the meeting after Tehran refused to accept U.S. conditions regarding the location and format of the talks. A senior official described the standoff bluntly: “We told them it is this or nothing, and they said, ‘Ok, then nothing.’”

However, the situation shifted later in the day after several Arab and Muslim leaders urgently lobbied the Trump administration not to walk away from the talks. Two U.S. officials said at least nine countries in the region conveyed messages to senior levels of the administration, strongly urging Washington to keep the meeting with Iran.

“They asked us to keep the meeting and listen to what the Iranians have to say,” one U.S. official said. “We told the Arabs that we will do the meeting if they insist. But we are very skeptical.”

A second U.S. official said the administration agreed to proceed with the talks “to be respectful” of the requests from U.S. allies in the region and “in order to continue pursuing the diplomatic track,” despite lingering doubts about Iran’s intentions.

The talks are now expected to take place in Muscat on Friday morning, with Oman once again playing its traditional role as a discreet mediator between Washington and Tehran.

Despite the agreement to move forward, significant disagreements remain over the scope of the negotiations. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has insisted that any talks must address not only Iran’s nuclear program but also its ballistic missile development, which Washington views as a major regional threat. Rubio has said the United States is prepared to engage quickly but only if the talks are substantive.

Iran, however, has signaled a narrower focus. A senior Iranian official previously told Reuters that Tehran was prepared to discuss only the nuclear issue, with its missile program explicitly “off the table,” underscoring the deep divide between the two sides.

U.S. officials stressed that Washington remains wary but sees value in continuing diplomacy for now. “We want to reach a real deal quickly,” one senior official said earlier, alluding to President Donald Trump’s repeated warnings that military options remain on the table if diplomacy fails.

The renewed talks come amid heightened regional tensions and underscore both the fragility of the diplomatic process and the pressure from U.S. allies to prevent a complete collapse of negotiations.