The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Iran rejected US calls to halt its uranium enrichment during the indirect talks between the sides in Oman.
The discussions resulted in little movement on key issues of contention, although both sides agreed to continue negotiations in order to prevent an escalation.
A regional diplomat briefed by Iran later confirmed to Reuters that the Islamic Republic rejected US calls to halt uranium enrichment on its territory, but said it was willing to discuss the “level and purity" of enrichment or a regional consortium.
The diplomat added that Tehran believed the US negotiators “seemed to understand Iran’s stance on the enrichment … and they showed flexibility about Tehran’s demands."
He also said that Iran’s missile capabilities were not discussed during the Oman talks, which involved Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
US Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that Trump would “keep his options open" on Iran and could ultimately use military force should diplomacy fail.
Speaking to journalist Megyn Kelly, Vance stressed, “Iran can't have a nuclear weapon. That is the stated policy goal of the president of the United States. It's so funny. Sometimes you have people who are saying, ‘Well, the president's too belligerent.’ And then sometimes you have people who say, ‘Well, the president, he's talking about diplomacy and he's talking about negotiating with the Iranians. We shouldn't negotiate. We should just bomb them.’"
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)