The semiofficial ISNA and Tasnim news agencies and the Student News Network reported on Wednesday that the talks would take place in Oman, though the sultanate did not immediately confirm it. Oman has hosted multiple rounds of nuclear talks between Iran and the U.S. in the past.
U.S. President Donald Trump has previously suggested the U.S. might use force against Iran in response to its crackdown on protesters, and is pushing Tehran for a deal to constrain its nuclear program.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said Trump officials are working on maintaining a meeting this week, though the U.S. has not acknowledged the talks would take place in Oman.
Number of arrests in protests tops 50,000, activists say
Also on Wednesday, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in other rounds of unrest in Iran, said the number of arrests in the government crackdown topped 50,000.
The group said at least 50,834 people have been arrested. It also has said at least 6,876 people were killed in last month's protests, though there are fears many more may be dead. The protests began over the country's economic crisis but grew to challenge the theocracy.
The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll due to the sweeping internet shutdown in Iran.
Rubio hopes talks will go beyond nuclear ones
Rubio said the U.S. still planned to participate in talks and hoped to discuss a number of concerns beyond the nuclear issue, including discussions on Iran's ballistic missiles, support for proxy networks across the region and the “treatment of their own people."
“The leadership of Iran at the clerical level does not reflect the people of Iran. I know of no other country where there’s a bigger difference between the people who lead the country and the people who live there,” he told reporters.
