In the first few weeks of Donald Trump's second term, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, repeatedly rejected the U.S. president's offer of negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, just as he had during Trump's first term. Tehran would not talk to this U.S. administration, Khamenei insisted. And even if it did talk, it would only do so indirectly. Talking to Washington was 'not honorable,' the supreme leader claimed. Khamenei's objections collapsed on Saturday evening when Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, chatted with Trump's Middle East envoy, Steven Witkoff, in the residence of Oman's foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, in Muscat. Prior to this hallway chat, the two sides had spent close to five hours in two different wings of Albusaidi's palatial home, exchanging written messages with Oman's top diplomat as their mediator. The direct discussion, long demanded by Trump but rejected by Iranian officials, showed just how well the initial talks via Albusaidi had...
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