Witkoff Set To Meet Iran Envoy In Istanbul For Rare Direct Nuclear Talks

At this point it it seems clear that President Trump is not quite ready to order a major attack on Iran, after last week threatening to do so, and weighing military options. Instead, Washington and Tehran could be inching back toward direct contact.

US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are expected to meet on Friday in Istanbul to discuss a possible nuclear deal, Axios reports.

If it actually happens (and the two sides don’t escalate the rhetoric before then), it would mark the first face-to-face engagement between American and Iranian officials since talks collapsed amid the 12-day June war.

Still a lot could happen between now and the end of the week, as Axios also concedes:

A fourth source familiar with the planning said a meeting on Friday was “the best case scenario” but cautioned that nothing is final until it happens.

Iranian foreign Miniser Araghchi has stressed that “Iran is ready for diplomacy” but has also spelled out that “diplomacy is incompatible with pressure, intimidation, and force.” The Iranians are hopeful about potential renewed direct contacts with Washington, however.

There’s been reports of a lot of behind the scenes diplomatic scrambling in order to head off war, especially by Egypt, and Qatar.

But Washington’s demands have remain unchanged. This reportedly includes Trump insisting on zero uranium enrichment, and restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Tehran has expressed that it is willing to dialogue on the nuclear issue, but that it will not limit or reduce its ballistic missile capabilities, given especially that Israel is not willing to do the same, and the Islamic Republic has already come under unprovoked Israeli attack. Such would be tantamount to national self-destruction and handing Israel an easy, cost-free victory.

Trump:

Qasem Soleimani was the military leader of Iran.

If he lived, that attack we made on Iran would not have been the same thing. He was a great general.

They don’t have that now.

Source: The Dan Bongino Show pic.twitter.com/xxL4u6fAsk

— Clash Report (@clashreport) February 2, 2026

In a recent interview with CNN, Araghchi said indirect contacts with Washington via regional intermediaries had been “fruitful” while at the same time warning that a wider war would be “a disaster for everybody.”

“Trump has yet to say whether and how he might use force,” the WSJ wrote over the weekend. ”But American airstrikes on Iran aren’t imminent, U.S. officials say, because the Pentagon is moving in additional air defenses to better protect Israel, Arab allies and American forces in the event of a retaliation by Iran and a potential prolonged conflict.”