U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff shakes hands with Oman's Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi as Jared Kushner looks on during a meeting in Muscat. Iran on Friday Handout/Omani Foreign Ministry/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
As was once said about the Palestinians, the Iranian regime never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. During Friday's negotiations in Oman, Iran refused to end enrichment of nuclear fuel or move it offshore, the Journal reports.
The U.S. and Israel disabled Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity by force in June, but the regime won't promise to forswear it in the future, according to Iranian state media. Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium was bombed deep beneath the rubble, inaccessible unless Iran wishes to invite another bombing. But the regime refuses to allow inspections of the damaged sites.
These were supposed to be the easier of the concessions, given what the U.S. and Israel have already accomplished. It is hard to see Iran agreeing to strict limits on its missile program and an end to its support for regional terrorist proxies -- the other U.S. requirements, per Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
"I'm not sure you can reach a deal with these guys," Mr. Rubio said Wednesday, "but we're going to try to find out."
This followed Iranian shenanigans over the location and format of the talks. Iran also launched a drone at a U.S. aircraft carrier and deployed gunboats to harass a U.S.-flagged oil tanker on Tuesday.
None of this suggests the regime is serious about reaching a deal. After Friday's talks, the U.S. imposed sanctions on 15 entities, two people and 14 vessels involved in the illegal oil and petrochemical trade. Half the vessels were previously identified by the private watchdog group, United Against Nuclear Iran, as evading sanctions.
This is a good move, and the U.S. "armada" sent to the region gives President Trump the option of enforcing a Venezuela-style embargo. Otherwise, talk is cheap for Iran's regime.
In an interview aired Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance expressed frustration with Iran's negotiating style. "The person who makes the decisions in Iran is the Supreme Leader," not the so-called reformist President, he said. "But it's a very weird country to conduct diplomacy with when you can't even talk to the person who's in charge of the country."
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks with other leaders, but he doesn't deign to speak with President Trump. Instead the ayatollah tasks apparatchiks to try to sell this Administration on another 2015 Barack Obama-style deal.
Oman's foreign minister put a positive spin on the talks Friday, claiming they helped "identify areas for possible progress" -- as opposed to making progress. The talk is now of more talks, and of course it is. But if this is how it begins, what is there to talk about?
Mr. Trump said Wednesday that Iran had sought to restart its nuclear program, at an old site and a new site. It has rapidly restored its ballistic-missile program. It sent Hezbollah a billion dollars to rebuild in 2025, even as the Iranian people suffered more privation. It defied Mr. Trump's warnings and massacred those people by the thousands when they spoke up. This is a picture of a regime digging in, not changing its ways.