Updates: US, Iranian officials head towards Oman ahead of critical talks

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Watch our video on how the US and Iran have yet to decide which topics are up for discussion in tomorrow’s talks here.

Read our article about how Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz has warned of potential escalation as the US and Iran prepare for talks here.

And you can catch all our coverage of the region here.

This live page will be closing soon. Here are today’s top developments:

• Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency has reported that the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has landed in the Omani capital in advance of tomorrow’s talks with the US.
• Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff from the US side are also in the region, having arrived in Doha earlier today.
• White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said US President Donald Trump has been “quite clear in his demands” of Iran, including “zero nuclear capability”.
• Oil prices have fallen around 2 percent in choppy trading after the US and Iran agreed to hold talks in Oman, easing concerns about Iranian crude supplies.
• Iranians in the capital, Tehran, have told Al Jazeera that they do not have much hope for Friday’s talks, with one resident saying Trump wants to “dominate the entire world”.

Al Jazeera’s Alex Gatopoulos breaks down the US military buildup in the region in the video below:

Semi-official Tasnim news agency has shared a short video showing Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, and other Iranian officials being welcomed in Oman’s capital.

Tasnim said the delegation was welcomed by Omani foreign ministry officials.

Talks in Muscat are set to kick off in mere hours, at 06:00GMT

As the prospect of a conflict between the US and Iran looms, analysts within Israel have questioned the country’s capacity to determine the outcome of a confrontation in a region that, just months ago, it had regarded itself as on the brink of dominating.

“The [Israeli] opposition are accusing [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu of giving in to Trump and ending the war on Gaza too soon,” Israeli political analyst Ori Goldberg told Al Jazeera.

“[Israel is] being hounded out of Lebanon, [its] freedom to operate within Syria has been halted. All that’s left to [Israel] is the freedom to kill Palestinians, and with Qatar, Turkiye and Egypt now being involved in Gaza, over Israel’s objection, it won’t be allowed to do that for much longer.”

Read more here.

The “unfreezing of certain Iranian assets and exchanging … or freeing prisoners from Iranian prisons” could be considered confidence-building measures in previous negotiations, Daniel-Dylan Bohmer, a foreign policy analyst, has told Al Jazeera.

However, he said that “if you look at the way things stand, at the moment, we’re actually not seeing any such measures, but rather escalation, both rhetorical and practical, from both sides”.

Bohmer, speaking from Berlin, Germany, said both sides have reasons not to want further escalation at the moment, adding that the United States has extended the time frame.

“I think the United States knows that a war against Iran, if it’s designed to really damage the regime, would need to be very long, very costly, and nobody would know what would come after that”, he said.

“The regional partners of the United States are also wary of the risks that instability in Iran might entail”, he said.

After weeks of military threats and arguments over a venue, the US and Iran are about to hold talks in Oman.

But the two have not yet decided which topics are up for discussion.

Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar explains the disagreement:

Captain Tim Hawkins, spokesperson for the US Army’s Central Command (CENTCOM), tells Al Jazeera that it shot down an Iranian drone two days ago because it approached its aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, in a “threatening manner”.

“Our forces are stationed in their positions to protect our interests and to carry out any mission”, Hawkins said, adding that the carrier was 500 nautical miles (about 925km) off the coast of Iran when the incident occurred.

“We see no reason for any Iranian military vessel to approach any US vessel,” he added.

The US military has currently built up its forces near Iran to near-unseen levels, as tensions continue to build.

Iran’s president has named Admiral Ali Shamkhani secretary of the body, which was established this August after June’s 12-day war against Israel.

Pezeshkian chairs the National Defence Council.

According to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, the body’s mandate is “Strengthening defense readiness, countering emerging threats, and enhancing coordination in defense decision-making”.

The appointment comes as both Iran and the US have upped their rhetoric about readiness for armed conflict, and hours before officials from the two countries are set to meet for talks in Oman.

Oil prices fell around 2 percent today in choppy trading after the US and Iran agreed to hold talks in Oman tomorrow, easing concerns about Iranian crude supplies.

Brent crude futures were down $1.59, or 2.29 percent, at $67.87 per barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate crude was down $1.51, or 2.32 percent, at $63.63.

At one point during the trading session, both benchmarks had slumped more than 3 percent.

“There is still scepticism that any reasonable deal can be made with Iran, so even though the market right now is giving talks the benefit of the doubt, we still don’t know what the outcome will be of those talks,” Phil Flynn, senior analyst with the PRICE Futures Group, told Reuters news agency.

The talks were originally scheduled to take place in Istanbul, but they were moved to Oman at Iran’s request, as Iran has insisted on keeping the talks on its terms regarding its nuclear programme.

It does not want to discuss its ballistic missile system. It does not want to discuss human rights issues, whereas the US has been saying through its secretary of state that these are the issues that the US wants to have on the table, in addition to Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme.

So there are still differences in what exactly will be discussed and in expectations from either side, as it appears at the moment.

We also understand that several Arab nations have been lobbying the White House to ensure this meeting goes ahead.

Many see it as critical, given US President Donald Trump’s threats to take action against Iran, should some kind of negotiation not come through.

So the stakes are very high indeed.

Germany’s chancellor has urged Iran to engage seriously in the upcoming talks in Oman, during an address in the Qatari capital earlier today.

See more of Friedrich Merz’s remarks in our video below.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Iran’s FM Abbas Araghchi is on his way to Oman for tomorrow’s talks with the US, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson has confirmed.
• Iranian Press TV has quoted a member of the country’s negotiating team as saying the topic of tomorrow’s discussions in Oman will be the nuclear issues.
• A White House official has told Al Jazeera that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a key figure in his Middle East policy negotiations, and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, have arrived in Doha ahead of talks between US and Iranian officials in Oman.
• Iranians in the capital Tehran have told Al Jazeera that they do not have much hope for Friday’s talks, with one resident saying Trump wants to “dominate the entire world”.

That’s according to Mohsen Milani, a politics professor at the University of South Florida, who says both sides also face intense domestic pressure to succeed.

See more in the video below:

We’re seeing extraordinary diplomacy, which is quite unconventional, being carried out by the Trump White House: Steve Witkoff … and [Jared Kushner] are doing essentially the job of the US State Department.

This is a Middle East tour. They were in Israel a couple of days ago. Just yesterday, they were talking about Russia in Abu Dhabi.

And it appears that now they want to make sure that the Qataris are on board – so all of their allies in the region, partners, need to be on board on whatever that future course of action is.

There is a lot of mistrust that is underlying all of this. I was talking to an Iranian diplomat who told me that last time, when they were in the middle of talks, the attack by the US [against Iran] happened.

There are many question marks that still remain, but it appears that both sides – the US and the Iranians – want to give the world a view that there is still hope to hang onto and they can avoid conflict as long as the lines of diplomacy are open.