DUBAI: Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said arrived in Tehran on Sunday for a two-day visit expected to focus on regional diplomatic and security issues, Iranian state media reported, two days after Muscat mediated a prisoner swap between Iran and Belgium.
Oman has long been an interlocutor for the West with Iran and has mediated the release of several citizens and dual nationals.
Haitham is expected to meet Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to discuss issues such as Tehran’s strained ties with Egypt and Iran’s disputed nuclear programme, Iranian state media reported.
The visit comes as Iran faces allegations that Russia is using Iranian drones in its war in Ukraine. Tehran denies supplying the drones for use in war.
Efforts by six world powers to revive Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal have stalled since last September, amid growing Western fears about the clerical establishment’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme.
The deal, which Washington President Donald Trump ditched in 201*, had imposed
curbs on Iran’s nuclear activities that extended the time Tehran would need to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb, if it chose to do so.
Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2023
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.