The United States and Iran are due to hold talks in Oman after Iranian officials requested a change of venue to limit negotiations to its nuclear program, a regional official says.
Iran wanted the meeting to take place in Oman as a continuation of previous rounds of talks held in the Gulf Arab country on its nuclear program, asking for a change of location from Turkey to avoid any expansion of the discussions to issues such as Iran's ballistic missiles, the regional official said.
Iran has said it will not make concessions on its formidable ballistic missile program - one of the biggest in the Middle East - calling that a red line in negotiations.
The ISNA and Tasnim news agencies as well as the Student News Network also reported on Wednesday that the talks would take place in Oman although the sultanate did not immediately confirm this.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that the venue was still being worked through, saying Iran's government had previously agreed to a format for a meeting on Friday in Turkey but appeared to have changed its mind.
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is ready to attend a meeting on Friday as planned, Rubio added.
"At the end of the day, the United States is prepared to engage and has always been prepared to engage with Iran," he said in a news conference.
On Tuesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he had instructed the country's foreign minister to "pursue fair and equitable negotiations" with the US.
The announcement came after a US navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that approached a US aircraft carrier early on Tuesday morning.
Iranian fast boats from its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard also tried to stop a US-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, the navy said.
Iran did not acknowledge either incident.
A source familiar with the situation said US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner was due to take part in the talks, along with Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.
Ministers from several other countries in the region including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates had also been expected to attend but a regional source told Reuters that Iran wanted only bilateral talks with the US.
with AP
