US-Iran nuke talks postponed as Hegseth warns Tehran will pay for Houthi support

Talks between the United States and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program set for this weekend have been scrapped, according to the government of Oman, which has been mediating deliberations between the two sides.A fourth round of discussion had been scheduled to take place in Rome on Saturday, but were postponed due to “logistical reasons,” Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi revealed on X Thursday.“New dates will be announced when mutually agreed,” added al-Busaidi, who did not elaborate on the “logistical reasons.Iran’s foreign ministry claimed that the meeting was delayed “at the request of Oman’s foreign minister,” while an unidentified source claimed to the Associated Press that Washington “had never confirmed its participation” in Saturday’s planned talks but was expecting conversations to take place “in the near future.”On Wednesday night, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued an ominous threat against Iran over its ongoing backing of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, whose attacks on Red Sea shipping have drawn the attention of the US Navy.“Message to IRAN: We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis.

We know exactly what you are doing,” Hegseth proclaimed on X.“You know very well what the U.S.

Military is capable of — and you were warned.You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing.”“The responsibility for the consequences and destructive effects of the contradictory behavior and provocative statements of American officials regarding Iran will lie with the American side,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei responded to Hegseth Thursday.Two rounds of indirect talks between the US and Iran took place in Oman’s capital, Muscat, while the third was held at the sultanate’s embassy in Rome.The US hopes to convince Iran to give up its nuclear program, which Washington believes to be geared toward creating an atomic weapon, in exchange for a rollback of sanctions against the theocrat...