The Iranian’s ARE NOT in a hurry to dance with the Trump Admin….
Watching Putin play hardball with Ukraine is probably their play book….
Trump’s Military threats are NOT like dealing with Venezuela….
And those in power know that losing their nuclear card would expose them to danger from a LOT of people they have beat on…
They HAVE put down HUGE internal protest’s…..
This add’s to Trump’ stuck Foreign Policy in Venezuela, Gaza and Ukraine….
The U.S. told Iran on Wednesday that it will not agree to Tehran’s demands to change the location and format of talks planned for Friday, two U.S. officials told Axios.
Why it matters: The standoff could block the diplomatic path and convince President Trump to opt for military action.
Driving the news: The U.S. and Iran had agreed to meet on Friday in Istanbul, with other Middle Eastern countries participating as observers.
- But the Iranians said on Tuesday that they wanted to move the talks to Oman and hold them in a bilateral format, in order to ensure that they focused only on nuclear issues and not other matters like missiles that are priorities for the U.S. and countries in the region.
- U.S. officials considered the request to change the location, but decided on Wednesday to reject it.
Friction point: “We told them it is this or nothing, and they said, ‘Ok, then nothing,'” a senior U.S. official said.
- The official said that if the Iranians are willing to go back to the original format, the U.S. is ready to meet this week or next week.
- “We want to reach a real deal quickly or people will look at other options,” the senior official said, alluding to Trump’s repeated threats of military action.
- “We tried to reach an accommodation but the Iranians refused. There is a good chance the talks won’t happen now at all this week,” a second U.S. official said.
- The Iranian mission to the UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Behind the scenes: The U.S. officials said the U.S. and Iran had initially agreed to hold talks in Istanbul on two tracks:
- Direct U.S.-Iran talks on a nuclear deal.
- Multilateral talks on issues like Iran’s missile program, support for proxy groups, and human rights violations in the violent crackdown on protesters.
What’s next: The U.S. officials said that White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner are expected to travel to Qatar on Thursday for talks on Iran with the prime minister….
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- The U.S. officials said that considering Iran’s behavior in recent days, and the lack of a breakthrough in previous talks, they’re skeptical a deal is possible….
ISW...Iran Update, February 3, 2026
- Iranian Navy Activity: Iran conducted two probing operations against the US Navy in the Persian Gulf, likely designed to test US Navy defensive reactions and demonstrate Iran’s ability to threaten US forces and assets. A probing action seeks to test the strength, disposition, and reactions of an opposing force. These two incidents may be the beginning of an Iranian maritime escalation that seeks to deter a US strike by demonstrating Iran’s capability to challenge US naval activity.
- Iran’s Negotiation Demands: The Iranian regime appears to be altering its demands for the location and structure of its upcoming negotiations with US officials, which may be an attempt to further restrict negotiations to solely focus on its nuclear program. Some unspecified Iranian regime officials have floated significant nuclear concessions with the United States, but other named senior regime officials speaking to non-Western outlets have floated more limited concessions, which raises doubts about the sincerity of officials speaking to Western media.
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