Iran talks in Oman show one thing clearly: Israel pushed too far, the agenda is trapped, and the US can’t widen it without the whole process collapsing. Right, so Donald Trump is back at it, threatening Iran’s leadership with one hand while sending Steve Witkoff off to “talk” with the other, and the talks are in Muscat today for one reason: Iran has already shown it will walk rather than let their nuclear file be turned into a disarmament trap. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has boxed this thing into a narrow channel, nuclear and sanctions, with discussions about anything else being an automatic kill switch, because if Washington tried the “this or nothing” routine again, Iran very much will, as they’ve already shown, choose nothing. So now the meeting, despite media narratives only actually exists on Iran’s terms. And here’s the part people are being slow to admit out loud: Israel’s preferred demands are the very thing that are jamming the talks, because missiles and regional alliances aren’t side issues for Iran, they’re the deterrent you keep when the US has already proved it can tear up a deal whenever it fancies, or indeed bomb you as they did last year. As for other mediating states like Qatar, Türkiye and Egypt - they can float as many “frameworks” as they like, but if the framework is just a surrender document with percentages on it, it’s dead on arrival. So in a minute I’m going to show exactly what just broke, who forced it, and why the only “diplomacy” left here is a trapped channel nobody can widen without blowing the room up and any prospect of a deal with it. Right, so Abbas Araghchi has set the time and place for nuclear talks with the United States in Muscat at around 10 a.m., local time, taking place as I was writing this and he has publicly credited Oman for arranging the meeting. Steve Witkoff is the named US envoy for the talks, and Oman is not a decorative host, it is the mediator because the talks are indirect rather than face-to-face. Iran has pushed the venue into Muscat after Istanbul was floated, and that venue switch is notable when the argument is about who gets to set conditions.