The US has held secret talks with Iran this year in a bid to convince Tehran to use its influence over Yemen’s Houthi rebels to end attacks on ships in the Red Sea, according to US and Iranian officials.
The indirect negotiations took place in Oman in January and were the first between the foes in 10 months, the officials said.
The US delegation was led by the White House’s Middle East adviser Brett McGurk and its Iran envoy Abram Paley. Iranian deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani, who is also Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator, represented the Islamic republic. Omani officials shuttled between the Iranian and American representatives so they did not speak directly, the officials said.
The talks underline how the Biden administration is using diplomatic channels with its foe, alongside military deterrents, in a bid to de-escalate a wave of regional hostilities involving Iranian-backed militant groups
The US has alleged that Iran is “deeply involved” in Houthi rebels acts on the Red Sea, a claim that Tehran has outrightly rejected.
The US and EU have intensified counterattacks in the Red Sea in a bid to make the region safer for transit.
A person familiar with the matter said the US sees an indirect channel with Iran as “a method for raising the full range of threats emanating from Iran.” The channel also gives Washington a medium to convey “what they (Iran) need to do in order to prevent a wider conflict, as they claim to want”.
A second round of discussions involving McGurk was slated for February but was never materialised.
A State Department spokesperson told CNN, “We aren’t going to comment on any details of our communications with Iran, other than to say that since October 7th all of them have been focused on raising the full range of threats emanating from Iran and the need for Iran to cease its across-the-board escalation.”