US-Iran talks held in friendly atmosphere: Sayyid Badr
Muscat: Oman's Foreign Minister, Sayyid Badr Hamad Al Busaidi, said that the talks between United States and Iran took place in a friendly atmosphere in Muscat on Saturday.
In a tweet, the foreign minister said, 'I am proud to announce that we hosted Iranian Foreign Minister Dr. Seyed Abbas Araghchi and US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and mediated to begin a process of dialogue and negotiations with the shared aim of concluding a fair and binding agreement in Muscat. I would like to thank my two colleagues for this engagement which took place in a friendly atmosphere conducive to bridging viewpoints and ultimately achieving regional and global peace, security and stability. We will continue to work together and put further efforts to assist in arriving at this goal.'
According to Iran news agency, the talks, the first in years, were held indirectly through Omani intermediaries.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said in a post on X on Saturday that the Iranian and U.S. negotiators had been stationed in separate rooms and exchanged messages via Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Hamad Al Busaidi.
The Iranian delegation, led by the Foreign Minister arrived in Muscat earlier in the day.
Upon arrival in Muscat, Araghchi met with Sayyid Badr and conveyed Iran's stance to him who later met with Witkoff.
Iran said it was giving diplomacy a 'genuine chance' if the American side demonstrated resolve and goodwill.
Iran viewed the preliminary talks in Oman as an opportunity to ascertain whether the United States is serious about diplomacy.
Earlier, the Iranian Foreign Minister expressed his happiness with the strong and solid relations between the two countries in various fields, praising the Sultanate of Oman's responsible stance on regional issues and developments, according to the Twitter account of the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
He also considered Muscat's hosting of indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States as evidence of this positive approach, and thanked the Foreign Minister, Sayyid Badr al Busaidi, for his keen interest in this issue.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Observer
a day ago
- Observer
Land of warriors... where ‘honour' is sullied, respect is lost
How can an ethnic group, rich in culture and tradition, and numbering more than 30 million people, not have a home to call their own? The Kurdish people are a proud people, gentle, yet, in protecting their 'honour,' become utterly mindless, brutal. The Kurdish, says proud young Kurd Danyil Kamil, are people of the mountainous, stateless region, that spans four nations Iran, Iraq, Türkiye , and Syria, once known as Mesopotamia. Culturally strong, and mostly Sunni Muslim. Ironically, following WWI, the Western allies having conquered the Ottoman Empire, made provision for a Kurdish state, even giving it the name of Kurdistan, in the 1920 Treaty of Sevres. However, the subsequent Treaty of Lausanne, in 1923, which established the post-war boundaries of modern-day Turkey, saw the Kurdish homeland fractured and according to Kamil, 'out of sight, out of mind.' Autonomous governance of the Iraqi sector has been touted since 1946, when Mustafa Barzani created the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which 15 years later, frustrated with their political progress launched an armed offensive against the government. In March1988, Saddam Hussein cruelly unleashed a chemical attack against Halabja, on the Iranian border, killing 5,000 Kurds. Iran's Ten million Kurdish Muslims, who have long sought formal allegiances with their fellow Levantine mountain-dwellers. However, successive Iranian governments have proven reluctant to cede a strong social presence, in country, and suppression of Kurdish autonomy and activism is widespread. Turkish Kurds too have suffered as successive Turkish governments have rejected autonomy since the 1920s, with Kurdish identity made unlawful. In 1978, Abdullah Ocalan inspired a bid for Kurdish independence, only to be arrested and gaoled in 1999. He is still imprisoned, alone, in Imrali Prison. It is conservatively estimated that more than 36,000 people have perished in the Turkish/Kurdish 'troubles. Syria only has a modest Kurdish population, denied citizenship, homes, land, and businesses, they were victims of widespread genocide until in 2012, Bashir Al Assad was forced to protect urban Syria from other rebel forces. Even today, Syria's fractured leadership refuses to negotiate Kurdish autonomy. This then, is the adversity that is Kurdistan, and hardly of its own making. But that's no excuse... Maybe the earlier generations would settle for peace and quiet, but as in every society, there is youth, and with youth comes restlessness, and a desire to be seen and heard, maybe ill-disciplined and free-spirited, but undeserving of the pathos surrounding one lost soul. Fairooz Azad was a Kurdish teenager, living in Erbil, population 879,000, and Kurdistan's largest city. She was pretty, vibrant, and bold, who successfully blended her beauty, fashion, personality and opinions, influencing thousands of Kurdish followers on social media. Her posts offered a very different perspective to the normally mundane existence where the only local excitement was their football team. A pretty girl, Azad would 'dress to impress,' frequently blogging and posting on TikTok and Snapchat, becoming prominent across the region's social media. Not everyone though, was impressed, and in November 2023, two rival influencers, feigning interest in her success, instead brutally assaulted and violated the 18-year-old and threw her from the balcony of Erbil's Eskan Towers. Miraculously, she survived with a broken leg, pelvic and spinal injuries. Incredibly, a tribal mediation saw her assailants given only a brief term of imprisonment, and they were released from jail before Azad was discharged from hospital. Then, in April 2024, believing Azad was now 'impure,' her father, uncle, cousin, a brother, and others, entered her bedroom and shot her dead while she was sleeping. To think young Fairooz Azad is now little more than a statistic, one of an average thirty women who perish each year in this region alone, in the name of 'honour?' This is not honour! For any culture, any tradition, no matter how disappointed, frustrated, or bitter with their lot, to seek solace in ritual gendercide, is completely wrong! Nyala Ali Khan, author, lecturer, and a global advocate for women's rights, in an interview on 'Counterpunch,' in 2016, that the 'discourse of honour killings,' speaks only to the 'incorrigible bestiality,' of the practice. How can a culture, a civilisation, a way of life, that regards honour so wretchedly, seek freedom, respect and independence so robustly?
Observer
2 days ago
- Observer
US sanctions 4 ICC judges over Israel and US cases
WASHINGTON: The United States imposed sanctions on four judges at the International Criminal Court including over an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as it ramped up pressure to neuter the court of last resort. The four judges in The Hague, all women, will be barred entry to the United States and any property or other interests in the world's largest economy will be blocked — measures more often taken against policymakers from US adversaries than against judicial officials. "The United States will take whatever actions we deem necessary to protect our sovereignty, that of Israel and any other US ally from illegitimate actions by the ICC," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. "I call on the countries that still support the ICC, many of whose freedom was purchased at the price of great American sacrifices, to fight this disgraceful attack on our nation and Israel," Rubio said. The court swiftly hit back, saying in a statement: "These measures are a clear attempt to undermine the independence of an international judicial institution which operates under the mandate from 125 States Parties from all corners of the globe." Israel's Netanyahu welcomed the move, thanking US President Donald Trump's administration in a social media post. "Thank you President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio for imposing sanctions against the politicised judges of the ICC. You have justly stood up for the right of Israel," he wrote on Friday. Human Rights Watch urged other nations to speak out and reaffirm the independence of the ICC, set up in 2002 to prosecute individuals responsible for the world's gravest crimes when countries are unwilling or unable to do so themselves. The sanctions "aim to deter the ICC from seeking accountability amidst grave crimes committed in Israel and Palestine; and as Israeli atrocities mount in Gaza, including with US complicity," said the rights group's international justice director, Liz Evenson. Two of the targeted judges, Beti Hohler of Slovenia and Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin, took part in proceedings that led to an arrest warrant issued last November for Netanyahu. The court found "reasonable grounds" of criminal responsibility by Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant for actions that include the war crime of starvation as a method of war in the massive offensive in Gaza following Hamas's unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Israel, alleging bias, has angrily rejected charges of war crimes as well as a separate allegation of genocide led by South Africa before the International Court of Justice. The two other judges, Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza of Peru and Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, were part of the court proceedings that led to the authorisation of an investigation into allegations that US forces committed war crimes during the war in Afghanistan. Neither the United States nor Israel is party to the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court. But almost all Western allies of the United States as well as Japan and South Korea, the vast majority of Latin America and much of Africa are parties to the statute and in theory are required to arrest suspects when they land on their soil. Trump in his first term already imposed sanctions on the then ICC chief prosecutor over the Afghanistan investigation. — AFP HIGHLIGHT The four judges in The Hague, all women, will be barred entry to the United States and any property or other interests in the world's largest economy will be blocked -- measures more often taken against policymakers from US adversaries than against judicial officials.
Observer
3 days ago
- Observer
His Majesty exchanges Eid greetings with leaders
MUSCAT: On the advent of Eid Al Adha 1446 AH, His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik has exchanged cables of greetings with kings and leaders of the Arab and Islamic countries. In his cables, His Majesty the Sultan expressed his sincere sentiments and best wishes to them and the peoples of their countries. His Majesty prayed to Allah the Almighty for the return of this and similar occasions on them and on peoples of their countries, as well as all Muslims around the world with blessings and bounties. On their turn, the leaders expressed their sincere greetings and best wishes to His Majesty the Sultan and the Omani people. They prayed to Allah the Almighty to grant His Majesty good health and well-being. They also prayed to the Almighty for the return of this and similar occasions on His Majesty at a time his people has achieved further progress and prosperity in various spheres. — ONA HM receives Eid greetings from officials His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik has received Eid Al Adha greetings from some officials in the Sultanate of Oman. They expressed their sincere greetings to His Majesty on this happy occasion. They wished His Majesty good health, happiness and a long life, praying to the Almighty Allah for the return of this and similar occasions on His Majesty at a time the Omani people enjoy further progress and prosperity. His Majesty the Sultan received the greetings from: HH Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmood al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers; HH Sayyid Shihab bin Tarik al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for Defence Affairs; Sayyid Khalid bin Hilal al Busaidy, Minister of the Diwan of Royal Court; Gen Sultan bin Mohammed al Numani, Minister of the Royal Office and Head of the Office of the Supreme Commander; Shaikh Abdulmalik bin Abdullah al Khalili, Chairman of the State Council; Khalid bin Hilal al Maawali, Chairman of Majlis Ash'shura; Lt Gen Hasan bin Mohsin al Shraiqi, Inspector General of Police and Customs; and Lt Gen Said bin Ali al Hilali, Head of the Internal Security Service. HM greets citizens, residents MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik has addressed a message of greetings to Omani citizens, residents in the Sultanate of Oman and to the Islamic nation on the occasion of Eid Al Adha. A statement to this effect was issued by the Diwan of Royal Court. It reads as follows: 'Amid the grace of these blessed days during which pilgrims perform the rituals of Haj pilgrimage for the Year 1446 AH — and, as Muslims in the east and the west of the globe anticipate the sunrise of the 10th of Dhul Hijjah, glorifying the Almighty Allah throughout these propitious days — His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik addressed a message of greetings to Omani citizens, residents on the land of Oman and the whole Islamic nation on the occasion of Eid Al Adha. His Majesty the Sultan prayed to the Almighty Allah to endow all with many happy comebacks of this auspicious occasion, and similar events, and bring back the Eid at a time all relish the bounties of health and long life. His Majesty wished that these blessed days would be a time of prosperity, peace and amity. May Allah the Almighty grant His Majesty the Sultan a long life and make him witness many happy returns of these divine days, and May He bestow His blessings and bounties on the Sultanate of Oman and its noble people! Happy Eid Al Adha to All.' — ONA
