By Simon Lewis and Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON, Feb 4 – Meaningful talks between the United States and Iran will have to include Tehran’s missile arsenal and other issues, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday, as Tehran said it would only discuss its nuclear program, not its missiles.
Talks between the countries amid fears of a military confrontation have been planned for Friday, with Iran pushing to restrict the negotiations to discussion of its long-running nuclear dispute with Western countries.
“If the Iranians want to meet, we’re ready,” Rubio said. But he added that talks would have to include the range of Iran’s ballistic missiles, its support for groups around the Middle East and its treatment of its own people, besides the nuclear dispute.
A senior Iranian official, however, said the talks would only be about Iran’s nuclear program, and that its missile program was “off the table”.
The meeting was originally planned for Turkey, but a Gulf official, another regional official and Iranian state-affiliated media said the talks were expected to take place in Oman. Rubio said the location of talks was “still being worked through”.
The diplomatic efforts come after U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of military action against Iran during its bloody crackdown on protesters last month and the deployment of more naval power to the Gulf.
After Israel and the United States bombed the Islamic Republic last summer, renewed friction has kindled fears among regional states of a major conflagration that could rebound on them or cause long-term chaos in Iran.
Trump has continued to weigh the option of strikes on Iran, sources say. Oil prices have risen on the tension.
Plans for the talks, to be mediated by several countries, were still being finalized, the Gulf official said, adding that the discussions would start on the nuclear issue and then move to other topics on a step-by-step basis.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis, Humeyra Pamuk, Andrew Mills and Parisa Hafezi; Writing by Michael Georgy and Angus McDowall; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
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