LONDON: Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who was leading indirect negotiations between Iran and the US in Geneva this week, tweeted his dismay at the attacks on Tehran this morning by the US and Israel.
“I am dismayed. Active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined. Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this,” Albusaidi wrote. “And I pray for the innocents who will suffer. I urge the United States not to get sucked in further. This is not your war.”
On Friday, Albusaidi appeared on US news show “Face The Nation” and said a peace deal between Iran and the US was “within our reach.” He also said, “I don’t think any alternative to diplomacy is going to solve this problem.”
An agreement to irreversibly halt nuclear stockpiling and enrichment was reached, according to Abdusaidi — a feat never before achieved, and one of US President Donald Trump’s most important demands.
“Iran will never, ever have a nuclear material that will create a bomb. This is, I think, a big achievement. This is something that is not in the old deal that was negotiated during President Obama’s time,” the foreign minister said.
“They will not be able to actually accumulate the material that would enable them to create a bomb … So there would be zero accumulation, zero stockpiling and full verification.”
Early on Saturday, the US and Israel launched coordinated military strikes against multiple targets inside Iran, marking a dramatic escalation in Middle East tensions. The operation — described by US officials as “major combat operations” — involved air and missile strikes on key Iranian military and government infrastructure, including areas in and around Tehran.
Trump framed the action as an effort to degrade Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities and to remove what he described as “an imminent threat” to regional and global security.
