FEBRUARY 28, 2026
This handout satellite picture, provided by Maxar Technologies and taken on June 22, 2025, shows damage after US strikes on the Isfahan nuclear enrichment facility in central Iran. (Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies / AFP)
Oman Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who had been a key player in talks aimed at preventing a war between the U.S. and Iran, expressed dismay at the Saturday morning strikes by the U.S. and Israel.
“I am dismayed. Active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined,” he wrote on X.
“Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this. And I pray for the innocents who will suffer. I urge the United States not to get sucked in further. This is not your war,” he wrote.
On Friday, hours before the strikes, the Omani foreign minister had played up progress in the talks.
“Now we are talking about zero stockpiling and that is very, very important because if you cannot stockpile material that is enriched, then there is no way you can actually create a bomb,” al-Busaidi had told Margaret Brennan of CBS’s “Face the Nation” in an interview posted Friday.
Iran holds a stockpile of between 300 and 400 kilograms of 60 percent enriched uranium that nuclear experts have warned can be converted to a nuclear weapon.
Al-Busaidi said if there is a deal, international nuclear inspectors, likely from the International Atomic Energy Agency, could inspect Iran’s nuclear facilities at places like Isfahan and inspect the stockpiles.
At the time, some saw the remarks from al-Busaidi, who met with Vice President Vance on Friday, as a last-ditch effort to stave off strikes by the U.S. on Iran amid signs President Trump was frustrated with the lack of progress with Tehran.
Courtesy/Source: The Hill / The Times of Israel
