Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the meeting would start at 10:00 (06:00 GMT) in Muscat. US officials also confirmed it would happen there. The talks had appeared to be in jeopardy, with the two countries at odds over the location and parameters. Trump has built up US forces in the region and threatened military action if Iran does not agree a deal on its nuclear programme and stop killing protesters. Asked whether Khamenei should be worried, he told NBC News on Wednesday: "I would say he should be very worried." "He should be. As you know, they're negotiating with us," he added. Khamenei warned the US on Sunday that any attack on Iran would spark a "regional war".

An Arab diplomat told the BBC's US partner, CBS News, that the negotiations between Tehran and Washington were never officially called off but had been in flux on Wednesday morning. Three US officials also confirmed the accuracy of an Axios report, which said the talks were put back on track in the afternoon after several Arab and Muslim leaders urged the Trump administration not to follow through on its threats to walk away. Axios said the administration agreed to the request "to be respectful" to its allies but that it was "very sceptical" about the prospects of success. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier told a news conference that special envoy Steve Witkoff had been preparing to meet Iranian officials in Turkey along with representatives of other regional powers, when they received "conflicting reports" about Iran's participation. Rubio also insisted that for the talks to "lead to something meaningful" they could not focus solely on the Iranian nuclear programme, as Iranian officials have demanded. (BBC)