Foreign Affairs

Hours Before Iran Strike, Key Negotiator Claimed Peace Deal Was ‘Within Our Reach’

[Screenshot/X/FaceTheNation]

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said in an interview with “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan released Friday that a deal between the United States and Iran was “within our reach.”

President Donald Trump announced the the United States military commenced Operation Epic Fury in a video posted to Truth Social early Saturday morning. Albusaidi, who served as a mediator in the talks between the United States and Iran, claimed during the interview Iran had agreed to not stockpile enriched uranium capable of making a nuclear bomb.

“The single most important achievement, I believe, is the agreement that Iran will never, ever have a nuclear material that will create a bomb. This is, I think, a big achievement. This is something that is not in the old deal that was negotiated during President Obama’s time,” Albusaidi told Brennan. “This is something completely new.”

WATCH:

WATCH: After meeting with Vice President JD Vance, Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi – a key mediator in the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks – tells @margbrennan “the peace deal is within our reach.” He also said, “I don’t think any alternative to diplomacy is going to solve this… pic.twitter.com/zOuSPxLy5j

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 27, 2026

“It really makes the enrichment argument less relevant, because now we are talking about zero stockpiling. And that is very, very important, because if you cannot stockpile material that is enriched then there is no way you can actually create a bomb, whether you enrich or don’t enrich. And I think this is really something that has been missed a lot by the media, and I want to clarify that from the standpoint of a mediator,” Albusaidi continued.

Trump hinted his patience had run out while talking to reporters during a Friday visit to Corpus Christi, Texas.

“They don’t want to say the key words, ‘We’re not going to have a nuclear weapon,’ and they just can’t get there,” Trump told reporters. “I’m not happy with the negotiation,” he later added.

Trump previously warned Iran not to harm protesters who oppose the regime, threatening action if the regime hanged demonstrators. While Iran reportedly didn’t hang any of the 800 protesters Trump mentioned, the theocratic regime’s forces allegedly killed thousands more.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei previously posted multiple threats against Trump on social media, including depicting the president in a coffin.