U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff plans to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oman on Sunday and discuss Iran's response to a recent American proposal for a nuclear deal, a U.S. official said late on Wednesday.

Donald Trump warned Iran “can’t have a nuclear weapon” amid fears of an Israeli strike. The US has begun evacuating staff from Baghdad, with embassies on alert. Trump voiced doubts about a nuclear deal as Iran unveiled new enrichment plans and warned US bases are within range.

Iran will not abandon its right to uranium enrichment because of mounting frictions in the region, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday, adding that a "friendly" regional country had alerted Tehran over a potential military strike by Israel.

Russia has offered to help convert Iran’s stockpiles of weapons-ready uranium to fuel-grade material in order to move along a potential Iran-U.S. nuclear deal, Reuters reported Wednesday. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian media that the Kremlin would step up its efforts to help reach a deal addressing Iran’s nuclear ambitions,