Iran Sec. Official Visits US in Oman   02/10 06:02

   A top Iranian security official traveled on Tuesday to Oman, the Mideast 
sultanate now mediating talks between Tehran and Washington over the Islamic 
Republic's nuclear program aimed at halting a possible American strike.

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- A top Iranian security official traveled 
on Tuesday to Oman, the Mideast sultanate now mediating talks between Tehran 
and Washington over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program aimed at halting a 
possible American strike.

   Ali Larijani, a former Iranian parliament speaker who now serves as the 
secretary to the country's Supreme National Security Council, likely carried 
Iran's response to the initial round of indirect talks held last week in Muscat 
with the Americans.

   Larijani's entourage shared photos of him meeting with Omani Foreign 
Minister Badr al-Busaidi, the chief intermediary in the U.S.-Iran talks, with 
what appeared to be a letter sheathed in plastic and sitting alongside the 
Omani diplomat.

   Iran has in the past communicated its positions in writing when dealing with 
the Americans. Iranian media had said Larijani would deliver an important 
message on the trip.

   Larijani also met with Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq for nearly three 
hours, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Neither Iran nor Oman offered 
any details on what had been discussed in Larijani's meetings.

   Larijani was later to travel to Qatar, which hosts a major U.S. military 
installation that Iran attacked in June after the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear 
sites during the 12-day Iran-Israel war.

   Iran and the U.S. held new nuclear talks last week in Oman. Foreign Minister 
Abbas Araghchi, speaking Sunday to diplomats at a summit in Tehran, signaled 
that Iran would stick to its position that it must be able to enrich uranium -- 
a major point of contention with U.S. President Donald Trump. That war 
disrupted earlier rounds of nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran.

   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is traveling to Washington this 
week, with Iran expected to be the major subject of discussion.

   The United States has moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, ships 
and warplanes to the Middle East to pressure Iran into an agreement and have 
the firepower necessary to strike the Islamic Republic should Trump choose to 
do so. Already, U.S. forces shot down a drone they said got too close to the 
Lincoln and came to the aid of a U.S.-flagged ship that Iranian forces tried to 
stop in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

   The U.S. Transportation Department's Maritime Administration issued a new 
warning Monday to American vessels in the strait to "remain as far as possible 
from Iran's territorial sea without compromising navigational safety." The 
strait, through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, is in Iranian and Omani 
territorial waters. Those traveling into the Persian Gulf must pass through 
Iranian waters.