Secret Talks: Iran & US Address Yemen Threat

Iran and the United States held secret, indirect talks in Oman in January, addressing the escalating threat posed to Red Sea shipping by the Houthis in Yemen, as well as the attacks on US bases by Iran-backed militias in Iraq, according to Iranian and US officials familiar with the discussions.

The secret talks were held Jan. 10 in Muscat, the capital of Oman, with Omani officials shuffling messages back and forth between delegations of Iranians and Americans sitting in separate rooms. The delegations were led by Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s deputy foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator, and Brett McGurk, President Joe Biden’s coordinator for the Middle East.

The meeting was the first time Iranian and US officials had held in-person negotiations — albeit indirectly — in nearly eight months. US officials said Iran requested the meeting in January, and the Omanis strongly recommended that the United States accept.

Since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, the United States and Iran have reassured each other that neither was seeking a direct confrontation, a stance conveyed in messages they passed through intermediaries.

But in Oman, each side had a clear request of the other, according to US and Iranian officials.

Washington wanted Iran to rein in its proxies to stop the Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the targeting of US bases in Iraq and Syria. Tehran, in turn, wanted the Biden administration to deliver a cease-fire in Gaza.

No agreement was reached, however, and within hours after McGurk left the meeting with the Iranians, the United States led military strikes Jan. 11 on multiple Houthi targets in Yemen.

But the Houthis have carried on with 102 attacks against ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since Nov. 19, according to the Pentagon.