Trump had kicked off the week by warning Iran that “bad things” would probably happen if a deal could not be reached. “We have ships heading to Iran right now, big ones – the biggest and the best – and we have talks going on with Iran and we’ll see how it all works out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “If we can work something out, that would be great and if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.”

“I’d like to see a deal negotiated. I don’t know that that’s going to happen,” he added. So far, Iran seems a willing participant, though at this point the reality is it has little to lose by risking such direct engagement.

The only thing which has remained up in the air is the venue. Initially widespread reports said the talks would be hosted by Turkey in Istanbul, but now the sides have their sights set on Oman.

Axios writes that these changes threaten to derail the talks before they even begin. “The Iranians want to move the talks from Istanbul to Oman,” the Wednesday report says.

“They also now want to hold them in a bilateral format, only with the U.S., rather than with several Arab and Muslim countries attending as observers,” it adds.

But Axios says that the Trump administration has agreed to the request from Tehran to hold the talks in Oman.

The bigger issue is going to be the scope of the talks. Iran is willing to engage on the nuclear issue, but will not negotiate over its ballistic missiles, seen as essential for national security and in any future war with Israel.

“A source with knowledge said that’s because the Iranians want to limit the talks to nuclear issues and not discuss things like missiles and proxy groups that are priorities for other countries in the region,” states Axios.

On Tuesday Trump had followed with more comments:

“They had a chance to do something a while ago, and it didn’t work out. And we did ‘Midnight Hammer’, I don’t think they want that happening again,” he said.

This time, Tehran is warning that it is ready to strike back hard if attacked, even if this means all-out war. It says its military forces and ballistic missiles are on high alert, and also that Tel Aviv will be again targeted in the event of US aggression.

NEW: Direct talks not currently on agenda as Iran-US set to resume negotiations in Oman. Qatari PM may join, no word yet on other regional officials. Also potentially joining: Jared Kushner.

Apart from differences over substance, concern that indirect talks won’t cut it. pic.twitter.com/1bCWoymsiY

— Mohammad Ali Shabani (@mashabani) February 4, 2026

Israel meanwhile is said to be lobbying Washington for regime change in Tehran, but the White House reportedly isn’t ready for such a drastic option – also amid reports the Pentagon would need more time to put assets in place.