Muscat, Feb 7 (AP) Iran and the US have held indirect talks in Oman, in negotiations that appeared to return to the starting point on how to approach discussions over Tehran's nuclear programme. But for the first time, America brought its top military commander in the Middle East to the table.

The presence of US Navy Adm Brad Cooper, head of the military's Central Command, in his dress uniform at the talks in Muscat, the Omani capital, on Friday served as a reminder that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships were now off the coast of Iran in the Arabian Sea.

President Donald Trump said the United States had “very good” talks on Iran and said more were planned for early next week. But he kept up the pressure, warning that if the country didn't make a deal over its nuclear programme, “the consequences are very steep”.

“Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly — as they should,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to his Florida golf club late Friday. He suggested Iran was willing to “do more” than in previous talks but did not give details.

Asked how long he was willing to wait for a deal, Trump said: “We have plenty of time. If you remember Venezuela, we waited around for a while. We're in no rush." The Trump administration built up a huge military presence in the Caribbean Sea in the months before a US raid captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to reach a deal on the programme after earlier sending the carrier to the region amid Tehran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests that killed thousands and saw tens of thousands of others detained in the Islamic Republic.

Gulf Arab nations fear an attack could spark a regional war that would drag them in as well.

That threat is real — US forces shot down an Iranian drone near the Lincoln and Iran attempted to stop a US-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz just days before Friday's talks in this sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula.

“We did note that nuclear talks and the resolution of the main issues must take place in a calm atmosphere, without tension and without threats,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later told journalists.

“The prerequisite for any dialogue is refraining from threats and pressure,” he added.

Araghchi said diplomats would return to their capitals, signalling this round of negotiations was over. The US was represented by Mideast special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law.

In a display of force, the US military published photos on X of the Lincoln carrier group sailing in the Arabian Sea with aircraft flying overhead, with the message “Peace through Strength!” Araghchi offered cautious optimism as he spoke in a live interview from Muscat on Iranian state television. He said Friday's talks were focused primarily on finding a framework for further negotiations.

“We will hold consultations with our capitals regarding the next steps, and the results will be conveyed to Oman's foreign minister,” Araghchi said.

“The mistrust that has developed is a serious challenge facing the negotiations,” Araghchi said. “We must first address this issue, and then enter into the next level of negotiations.” Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who oversaw multiple rounds of negotiations before Israel launched its 12-day war on Iran in June, called the talks “useful to clarify both the Iranian and American thinking and identify areas for possible progress.” The talks had initially been expected to take place in Turkey in a format that would have included regional countries as well, and would have included topics like Tehran's ballistic missile programme — something Iran apparently rejected in favour of focusing only on its nuclear programme.

Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. The UN nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — had said Iran was the only country in the world to enrich to that level that wasn't armed with the bomb.

Iran has been refusing requests by the IAEA to inspect the sites bombed in the June war, raising the concerns of nonproliferation experts. Even before that, Iran has restricted IAEA inspections since Trump's decision in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw America from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Friday's talks saw in-person meetings at a palace near Muscat's international airport, used by Oman in earlier talks Iran-US talks in 2025. Associated Press journalists saw Iranian officials first at the palace and later returning to their hotel before the Americans came separately.

It remains unclear just what terms Iran is willing to negotiate at the talks. Tehran has maintained that these talks will only be on its nuclear programme. However, the Al Jazeera satellite news network reported that diplomats from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar offered Iran a proposal in which Tehran would halt enrichment for three years, send its highly enriched uranium out of the country and pledge “not initiate the use of ballistic missiles”.

Russia had signalled it would take the uranium, but Iran has said ending the programme or shipping out the uranium were nonstarters.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the talks needed to include all those issues.

Shortly after Friday's talks, the US Treasury and the State Department announced a new round of sanctions on Iran targeting its energy sector, imposing penalties, including freezes on assets in US jurisdictions, on 14 oil tankers in a so-called “shadow fleet” that the US says are used to try to evade sanctions, as well as on 15 trading firms and two business executives.

Trump also signed an executive order that says an import tax of potentially 25% “may” be imposed on goods from countries that buy oil from Iran. The order does not specifically impose tariffs so much as give the president the legal basis for levying them starting Saturday.

It says the potential tariffs can be removed if Iran or the foreign buyers of its oil align themselves with US interests on national security, foreign policy and economic issues.

In the past month, the US also has sanctioned Iran's interior minister, the secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security, and several other leaders involved in Iran's deadly crackdown against last month's protests. (AP) SCY SCY