A senior Iranian security official traveled on Tuesday to Oman, the Gulf country that is now mediating talks between Tehran and the United States over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program aimed at stopping a possible American attack.
Ali Larijani, a former speaker of the Iranian Parliament who now serves as secretary of the country's Supreme National Security Council, is likely to convey his country's response to the initial round of indirect talks held last week in Muscat with the Americans.
Larijani will meet with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, the lead mediator in the talks, and Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, the state news agency IRNA reported.
IRNA described the talks as "important," without giving details on what message Larijani will convey.
He said he flew from Tehran to Muscat on Tuesday morning.
Iran and the US held new nuclear talks last week in Oman.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to diplomats at a summit in Tehran on Sunday, signaled that Iran would stand by its stance that it must be able to enrich uranium - a key point of disagreement with US President Donald Trump, who bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June during the 12-day Iran-Israel war.
This war interrupted previous rounds of nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Washington this week, and Iran is expected to be the main topic of discussion, his office said.
The US has moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, ships and fighter jets to the Middle East to pressure Iran into a deal and to have the firepower needed to strike the Islamic Republic if Trump chooses to do so.
Already, US forces have shot down a drone that they said came too close to the USS Lincoln and come to the aid of a US-flagged ship that Iranian forces tried to stop in the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration issued a new warning on Monday for American ships in the strait to "stay as far away from Iranian territorial waters as possible without compromising the safety of navigation."
The strait, through which a fifth of all traded oil passes, is located in the territorial waters of Iran and Oman. /Telegrafi/
