Top Iran security official to travel to Oman, site of talks with U.S., likely with nuclear message

A top Iranian security official will travel Tuesday (February 10, 2026) to Oman, the Mideast sultanate now mediating talks between Tehran and the United States over the Islamic Republic’ nuclear programme aimed at halting a possible American strike.

Ali Larijani, a former Iranian Parliament speaker who now serves as the secretary to the country’s Supreme National Security Council, likely will carry his country’s response to the initial round of indirect talks held last week in Muscat with the Americans.

Mr. Larijani is due to meet with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, the chief intermediary in the talks, and Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. IRNA described the talks as “important,” without elaborating on what message Mr. Larijani will carry.

Iran and the U.S. held new nuclear talks last week in Oman. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking Sunday (February 8, 2026) to diplomats at a summit in Tehran, signaled that Iran would stick to its position that it must be able to enrich uranium — a major point of contention with U.S. President Donald Trump, who bombed Iranian atomic sites in June during the 12-day Iran-Israel war. That war disrupted earlier rounds of nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to travel to Washington this week, with Iran expected to be the major subject of discussion, his office said.

The U.S. has moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, ships and warplanes to West Asia to pressure Iran into an agreement and have the firepower necessary to strike the Islamic Republic should Mr. Trump choose to do so. Already, U.S. forces shot down a drone they said got too close to the Lincoln and came to the aid of a U.S.-flagged ship that Iranian forces tried to stop in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

The U.S. Transportation Department’s Maritime Administration issued a new warning Monday (February 9, 2026) to American vessels in the strait to “remain as far as possible from Iran’s territorial sea without compromising navigational safety.” The strait, through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, is in Iranian and Omani territorial waters. Those traveling into the Persian Gulf must pass through Iranian waters.