• Tehran warns of ‘destructive’ influence on diplomacy ahead of Israeli PM’s Washington trip
• Iran’s security chief meets Oman ruler after first round of US talks

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday the top priority in his talks with US President Donald Trump would be the ongoing negotiations with Iran, as he presses for a tougher US approach to Tehran’s ballistic missile programme.

So far, Iran has rejected expanding the scope of its talks with the US beyond the issue of its nuclear programme, though Washington also wants Tehran’s ballistic missile programme and its support for regional militant groups on the table.

The two leaders are to meet in Washington on Wednesday, their sixth such encounter in the United States since Trump returned to office a year ago.

They also met in Jerusalem in October when Trump announced a ceasefire in Gaza.

Wednesday’s meeting comes days after Iran and the United States held talks in Oman, after which Trump said another round of negotiations would follow.

Netanyahu and Trump will also meet amid growing international outrage over Israeli measures to tighten control of the occupied West Bank by allowing settlers to buy land directly from its Palestinian owners.

However, it remains unclear whether the issue will be raised in their talks, despite Trump’s past opposition to any annexation of the West Bank.

“On this trip we will discuss a range of issues: Gaza, the region, but of course first and foremost the negotiations with Iran,” Netanyahu said, in a video statement before his departure. “I will present to the president our views regarding the principles for the negotiations.”

Netanyahu visit ‘destructive’

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson warned on Tuesday that Netanyahu’s visit would have a “destructive” influence on diplomacy that is “detrimental to the region”.

“Our negotiating party is America. It is up to America to decide to act independently of the pressures and destructive influences that are detrimental to the region,” said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei in a weekly press briefing.

“The Zionist regime has repeatedly, as a saboteur, shown that it opposes any diplomatic process in our region that leads to peace.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s top security official met the Sultan of Oman in Muscat on Tuesday, days after a first round of talks there between officials from Washington and Tehran last Friday.

Ali Larijani, who heads the Supreme National Security Council, and Sultan Haitham bin Tariq “discussed the latest developments in the Iranian-American negotiations”, the official Oman News Agency said.

Larijani also met Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who mediated Friday’s indirect talks between US and Iranian officials, according to photos shared on Larijani’s official Telegram channel.

Larijani and Sultan Haitham also explored “ways to reach a balanced and just agreement between the two sides, and emphasised the importance of returning to the table of dialogue and negotiation”.

While in Muscat, Larijani warned against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intervening in the talks, according to a post on X. He urged the United States to “remain alert” to what he described as Israel’s destructive role ahead of Netanyahu’s trip to Washington, it said.

During his trip to Muscat, Larijani also met Mohammed Abdulsalam, the spokesperson for Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Larijani will head to Qatar next, according to Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2026