Netanyahu meets on Iran, possible Hezbollah involvement

US, Iran to hold talks Thursday as Tehran claims ‘good chance’ of diplomatic solution

Iranian FM says hopeful of averting attack as Trump masses forces, warns Iran will strike back, says missiles can hit Israel again; official says Iran offering new concessions

The next round of talks between the United States and Iran will be Thursday in Geneva, Oman’s foreign minister said Sunday, as Tehran expressed hope that a nuclear agreement could be reached that would avert a looming US attack.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said on social media that he was pleased to confirm the development “with a positive push to go the extra mile towards finalizing the deal.” Oman previously hosted the indirect talks on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and facilitated the latest round in Geneva last week.

There was no immediate comment from the White House.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who will hold the talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff, told CBS in an interview aired Sunday that a “good chance” remained for a diplomatic solution on the nuclear issue, adding that it was the only matter being discussed.

The Trump administration has been pushing for concessions from its longtime adversary and has built up the largest US military presence in the Middle East in decades.

US President Donald Trump warned on Friday that limited strikes against Iran are possible, even as Araghchi at the time said that Tehran expected to have a proposed deal ready in the next few days.

Araghchi told CBS that Iran was still working on the draft proposal. He added that Iran has the right to enrich uranium. On Friday, he said his US counterparts had not asked for zero enrichment as part of the latest round of talks, which is not what US officials have said publicly.

Both Iran and the US have signaled they are prepared for war if talks on Tehran’s nuclear program fail.

Minutes after Oman’s confirmation of talks, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on social media that “recent negotiations involved the exchange of practical proposals and yielded encouraging signals. However, we continue to closely monitor US actions and have made all necessary preparations for any potential scenario.”

The US has said Iran cannot have nuclear weapons or the capacity to build them and that it cannot enrich uranium. Tehran has long insisted that any negotiations should only focus on its nuclear program, and that it has not been enriching uranium since US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June.

Although Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, the US, Israel and others believe it is aimed at developing weapons. Iran, which openly seeks Israel’s destruction, has enriched uranium to levels with no peaceful purposes, developed a large ballistic missile arsenal and was said by Israel to be progressing toward weaponization before last June’s 12-day Israel-Iran war.

Talks were deadlocked for years after Trump’s decision in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw the US from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Since then, Iran has refused to discuss wider US and Israeli demands that it scale back its missile program and sever ties to armed groups.

On the subject of enrichment, Araghchi said Sunday: “As a sovereign country, we have every right to decide for ourselves, by ourselves.”

Additional concessions

Despite this, Reuters reported Sunday that Iran was now offering additional concessions on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions and recognition of its right to enrich uranium.

An official told Reuters that Tehran would seriously consider a combination of sending half of its most highly enriched uranium abroad, diluting the rest, and taking part in creating a regional enrichment consortium — an idea periodically raised in years of Iran-linked diplomacy.

Iran would do this in return for US recognition of Iran’s right to “peaceful nuclear enrichment,” under a deal that would also include lifting economic sanctions, the official said.

In addition, Iran has offered openings for US companies to participate as contractors in Iran’s large oil and gas industries, the official said.

“Within the economic package under negotiation, the United States has also been offered opportunities for serious investment and tangible economic interests in Iran’s oil industry,” the official said.

While Araghchi held out hope for a deal, he also issued veiled threats at the US and at Israel.

“If the US attacks us, then we have every right to defend ourselves,” Araghchi said, alluding to American interests in the region as potential targets.

Striking Israel

Pressed in the interview about the vulnerabilities exposed by Israel destroying much of Iran’s air defenses and taking control of the skies over Tehran, Araghchi insisted that Iran is “in a better situation” defensively than in the June 2025 war with Israel and is prepared to strike Israel again with its missiles should it come under attack.

“Yes, we had problem with our air defense, but Israelis had also problem with their air defense and our missiles were able to hit targets inside Israel,” he said in the interview.

“They started the war, but after 12 days, they asked for a ceasefire, unconditional ceasefire,” he claimed. “Why? Because they couldn’t defend themselves against our missiles. So we have a very good capability of missiles, and now we are even in a better situation than previous war.”

In fact, Trump brokered the ceasefire after the US bombed three key Iranian nuclear facilities.

Iran’s missiles, the Iranian foreign minister claimed, “hit their targets in a very exact way, and they can do it again.”

During the 12-day war last June, six missiles are said to have struck military bases, while 36 others impacted elsewhere inside Israel, having evaded interception by Israeli and US air defenses, killing 32 people and damaging 2,305 homes in 240 buildings, along with two universities and a hospital, and leaving over 13,000 Israelis displaced.

Confirmation of new talks came as new anti-government protests began in Iran, according to witnesses, as university students in Tehran and another city demonstrated around memorials for thousands of people killed in a crackdown on previous nationwide demonstrations about six weeks ago.

Hezbollah involvement

Amid the threat of war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet on Sunday night.

Ahead of the cabinet, he held a meeting with a small circle of advisers and security officials on the question of what Hezbollah in Lebanon might do if the US strikes Iran, Channel 12 reported.

There is a disagreement among Israeli officials over whether Hezbollah — a Lebanese proxy that was severely hurt in fighting with Israel over the past two years — wants to enter another fight with Israel, according to the outlet.

Israel believes that Iran is trying to play for time by submitting draft proposals to the US and then going back and forth on the details, the report said, and assesses that the chances of a deal remain low.

However, Israel is taking pains not to be seen as pushing for a strike on Iran, but believes that there is an historic opportunity to change the regime and the region for years to come, it said.

Axios had earlier reported, citing an unnamed senior US official, that if Iran submitted its proposal in the next 48 hours, Washington was ready to meet again later in the week “to start detailed negotiations.”

The US has sent two aircraft carriers to the Middle East in recent weeks, along with other jets and ships, and has also shored up its air defenses in the region to back up its threats of military intervention.

According to The New York Times, the second aircraft carrier dispatched to the region, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is expected to be off the coast of Israel in the coming days, having passed the south of Italy on Sunday.

Witkoff said Saturday in a Fox News interview that the president was questioning why Iran had not yet given in to US pressure.

“He’s curious as to why they haven’t… I don’t want to use the word ‘capitulated’, but why they haven’t capitulated,” Witkoff said.

“Why, under this pressure, with the amount of sea power and naval power over there, why haven’t they come to us and said, ‘We profess we don’t want a weapon, so here’s what we’re prepared to do?'”