Top Iran security official travels to Oman, site of talks with the US

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A top Iranian security official traveled on Tuesday to Oman, the Mideast sultanate now mediating talks between Tehran and Washington over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program aimed at halting a possible American strike.

The visit by Ali Larijani, a former Iranian parliament speaker who now serves as the secretary to the country's Supreme National Security Council, likely focused on what comes next after the initial round of indirect talks held last week in Muscat with the Americans.

Larijani's entourage shared photos of him meeting with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, the chief intermediary in the U.S.-Iran talks, with what appeared to be a letter sheathed in plastic and sitting alongside the Omani diplomat.

Iran has in the past communicated its positions in writing when dealing with the Americans — and famously, Japan's then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tried to hand Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a letter from Trump in 2019 that he refused to take.

Iranian media had said Larijani would deliver an important message. However, Iranian state television hours after that meeting described al-Busaidi as having “handed over a letter” to Larijani. It did not elaborate from where the letter came.

Larijani also met with Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq for nearly three hours, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Neither Iran nor Oman offered any details on what had been discussed in Larijani's meetings.

Larijani was later to travel to Qatar, which hosts a major U.S. military installation that Iran attacked in June after the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day Iran-Israel war.

Iran and the U.S. held new nuclear talks last week in Oman. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking Sunday to diplomats at a summit in Tehran, signaled that Iran would stick to its position that it must be able to enrich uranium — a major point of contention with U.S. President Donald Trump. That war disrupted earlier rounds of nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran.

“The Muscat meeting, which was not a long one, it was a half-day meeting. For us it was a way to measure the seriousness of the other side, and to find out how we could continue the process. Therefore we mostly addressed the generalities,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told journalists at a news conference Tuesday in Tehran.

“Our principles are clear. Our demand is to secure the interests of the Iranian nation based on international norms and the Non-Proliferation Treaty and peaceful use of nuclear energy,” Baghaei said. “So as for the details, we should wait for the next steps and see how this diplomatic process will continue.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is traveling to Washington this week, with Iran expected to be the major subject of discussion.

Larijani accused Israel of trying to play a “destructive role” in the talks.

“Americans must think wisely and not allow him, through posturing, to imply before his flight that ’I want to go and teach Americans the framework of the nuclear negotiations,” Larijani said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Elsewhere, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said there is “extraordinary alignment” between Washington and Israel over the talks with Tehran.

“Everyone would love to see something that would resolve without a war, but it’ll be up to Iran,” said Huckabee before he boarded a flight to Washington with Netanyahu.

The United States has moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, ships and warplanes to the Middle East to pressure Iran into an agreement and have the firepower necessary to strike the Islamic Republic should Trump choose to do so. Already, U.S. forces shot down a drone they said got too close to the Lincoln and came to the aid of a U.S.-flagged ship that Iranian forces tried to stop in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

The U.S. Transportation Department's Maritime Administration issued a new warning Monday to American vessels in the strait to “remain as far as possible from Iran’s territorial sea without compromising navigational safety.” The strait, through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, is in Iranian and Omani territorial waters. Those traveling into the Persian Gulf must pass through Iranian waters.

Anti-government chants from people's homes

Meanwhile, people in various neighborhoods of Iran’s capital chanted “death to the dictator” from windows and rooftops on the eve of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, witnesses said, turning the annual celebration into a protest.

State television in recent days has routinely encouraged people to chant pro-government slogans accompanied by fireworks across the city, an annual ritual in the country. The government has also planned a rally scheduled for Wednesday to celebrate the anniversary of the revolution that ousted a pro-West monarchy and brought Islamists to power.

The move came nearly one month after a bloody crackdown in Iran on anti-government protests that led to the deaths of thousands of people. Iran has seen a widespread crackdown on protesters since late December that extended into January when Iranians poured into the streets of at least 192 cities across Iran’s 31 provinces, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Monitoring groups say at least 6,854 people were killed, most on Jan. 8-9, but add that the actual number could be triple that amount during the unprecedented clampdown. A monthlong internet blackout has hidden the full extent of what happened, even as more than 50,000 people have been reported detained.

The protests were some of the biggest anti-government rallies since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, where crowds across social and economic classes were greater than in past countrywide rallies.