Arya News - Everyone is waiting to see if diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran prevails or if this whole situation explodes.
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( NewsNation ) — Good evening from Tel Aviv.
My intrepid producer, Will Budkins, and I snuck in last night, and I’ll be frank: The region is on edge.
Everyone is waiting to see if diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran prevails or if this whole situation explodes.
The president’s comments today were not-so-optimistic.
“[Iran] should make a deal, but they don’t want to quite go far enough, and it’s too bad. Look, we’ve been playing with them for 47 years, and that’s a long time,” the president said, adding, “We’re not happy with the negotiations.”
The last round of talks was in Geneva this week, and there are tentative plans for negotiations to pick back up next week.
Nevertheless, precautions are being taken. The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has told nonemergency staff members they are free to leave for their safety, and if they are planning to depart Israel, they should do so immediately.
The guidance for Americans here was similar: “Persons may wish to consider leaving Israel while commercial flights are available.”
To be clear, we have not seen a security alert like that issued here at the U.S. Embassy in Israel since June of last year during the “Twelve-Day War” between Israel and Iran. The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon gave the same guidance just a few days ago.
But amid all the tension, Oman’s foreign minister believes a breakthrough is possible. He has served as the main mediator between Iran and the U.S. and met with Vice President JD Vance today.
In an interview with CBS , he said, “A peace deal is within our reach,” elaborating that “if the ultimate objective is to ensure forever that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, I think we have cracked that problem through these negotiations.”
Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, said both Washington and Tehran are very serious about making a deal and that he believes Iran is prepared to agree to things they have never agreed to before, such as downgrading the uranium they currently have to a level that can never be weaponized and to allow nuclear inspectors in to monitor the nuclear programs.
“The agreement that Iran will never, ever have a nuclear material that will create a bomb,” he said. “This is, I think, a big achievement. This is something that is not in the old deal that was negotiated during President Obama’s time.”
Not everyone is buying it, however, including Senator Lindsey Graham.
“To say I’m suspicious that the ayatollah and his regime will change and keep their word is the biggest understatement in history,” Graham posted on X. “I would also caution, beware of anything that comes from Oman. It is clear to me that the best and only long term answer is to stand with the Iranian people and demand regime change.”
Make no mistake about it. We are presently at the brink. The USS Gerald Ford just arrived in the Middle East, giving the U.S. two aircraft carriers here in the region with no shortage of aviators and sailors.
The president says a final decision has not been made on what comes next. It’s a big one.
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