negotiator says Tehran remains “distrustful of the Americans.” And state media framed the Oman meetings as routine diplomatic consultations rather than what they actually are: a last-chance session to avoid another American military response.
The backstory makes Iran’s position even harder to defend. U.S. officials report that Iranian negotiators privately admitted to their American counterparts that hardline IRGC elements opened fire on ships specifically to claw back leverage they felt they’d lost — particularly after Oman preemptively opened a southern shipping channel before the MOU was even signed.
