Washington [US], May 18: Two senior US administration officials held indirect talks with Iranian officials in Oman this week to avoid escalating attacks in the region.
According to Axios on May 18, participating in the dialogue were Senior Advisor to the US President on the Middle East Brett McGurk and acting US Special Envoy for Iran Abram Paley. Since January, similar negotiations between the two countries have been taking place in Oman.
Mr. McGurk and Mr. Paley arrived in Oman on May 14 and met with host country brokers. It is unclear who the Iranian representative is. Sources said that the dialogue focused on clarifying the consequences of potential actions from Iran and its regional proxies, and discussed US concerns about Tehran's nuclear program.
The US government declined to comment on this dialogue.
A day earlier, US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said that the White House has many ways to contact Iran when needed. He also said the administration found that Iran does not currently have the key actions needed to produce a testable nuclear device.
Mr. Patel added that the US does not believe Iran's supreme leadership has made a decision to restore the nuclear weapons program, which according to Washington's assessment was suspended or ended at the end of 2003.
Axios sources familiar with the matter said the dialogue between the US and Iran in Oman took place just over a month after Tehran's unprecedented attack on Israeli territory . The attack pushed the entire Middle East region to the brink of a major war.
Iran launched 350 missiles and drones toward Israel in retaliation for Iran's assassination of Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi in an earlier airstrike on a diplomatic building in Syria.
Iran's response was the first direct attack from its territory to Israel. The attack was almost stopped by the defense efforts of Israel and allies such as the US, UK, France and some countries in the region. Days later, Israel carried out a precision air strike targeting an Iranian air base in response.
These actions took place while Israel was in a conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. One of America's main goals from the beginning of the conflict was to prevent the fighting from spreading. The US believes that Iran has great influence on forces in the region, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and militia groups in Iraq and Syria that have attacked US forces.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
