A “good start,” according to Iranian diplomats, but also a new round of American sanctions. That was how negotiations between the United States and Iran ended on Friday, February 6, in Muscat, Oman, which has been acting as an intermediary. These were the first formal discussions between the two countries about Tehran’s nuclear program since the “Twelve-Day War” in June 2025. That conflict allowed Israel and its American ally to strike Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities and eliminate numerous officers and scientists, without pushing for regime change at the time.
In the eyes of the Trump administration, this was now a final chance for negotiations, under the threat of potential American strikes against Iran. But tensions ran high, just a month after the bloody crackdown on a major protest movement against the regime, which reportedly left more than 30,000 dead, according to the most pessimistic estimates. Talks took place as the US had deployed what President Donald Trump described as a true “armada” in the Persian Gulf, increasing pressure on Iran to yield, even though the American president had backed away from intervening to support the protesters, as he had initially considered.
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