Iran and US conclude a fourth round of negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program in Oman

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran and the United States held a fourth round of negotiations Sunday over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, just ahead of a visit by President Donald Trump to the Middle East this week.

The talks ran for some three hours in Muscat, the capital of Oman, which has been mediating the negotiations, said a U.S. official. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei also said the talks took place that long and that a decision on the next round of talks is under discussion.

Baghaei called the talks “difficult but useful.” The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations, offered a little bit more, describing them as being both indirect and direct.

“Agreement was reached to move forward with the talks to continue working through technical elements,” the U.S. official said. “We are encouraged by today’s outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future.”

Iran insisted they only took place indirectly — possibly over internal political pressures within the Islamic Republic.

The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic, closing in on half a century of enmity.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. Meanwhile, Israel has threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities on their own if it feels threatened, further complicating tensions in the Mideast already spiked by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

The talks again saw Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff lead the negotiations. They have met and spoken face-to-face but the majority of the negotiations appear to have been indirect, with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi shuttling messages between the two sides.

“The discussions included useful and original ideas reflecting a shared wish to reach an honorable agreement,” al-Busaidi wrote afterward on the social platform X.

Iran has insisted that keeping its ability to enrich uranium is a red line for its theocracy, with Araghchi before the talks describing Iran's program as springing from “the blood of our nuclear scientists." Israel is widely suspected of carrying out assassinations targeting the program's scientists.

“From our viewpoint, enrichment is a subject that should definitely continue and there is no room for compromise on that," Araghchi told Iranian state television after the talks. “It is possible that we consider some limits on its dimensions, amount and level for trust building, similar to the past.”

Witkoff has muddied the issue by first suggesting in a television interview that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later saying that all enrichment must stop.

“An enrichment program can never exist in the state of Iran ever again,” Witkoff told the right-wing Breitbart news site in a piece published Friday. “That’s our red line. No enrichment. That means dismantlement, it means no weaponization, and it means that Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan — those are their three enrichment facilities — have to be dismantled.”

Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers capped Tehran’s enrichment at 3.67% and reduced its uranium stockpile to 300 kilograms (661 pounds). That level is enough for nuclear power plants, but far below weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Since the nuclear deal’s collapse in 2018 with Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of the U.S. from the accord, Iran has abandoned all limits on its program and enriched uranium to up to 60% purity — a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels. There have also been a series of attacks at sea and on land in recent years, stemming from the tensions even before the Israel-Hamas war began.

Iran also faces challenges at home, exacerbated by sanctions. Its troubled rial currency, once over 1 million to $1, has strengthened dramatically due to the talks alone to around 830,000 to $1.

However, the two sides still appear a long way from any deal, even as time ticks away. Iranian media broadly reported a two-month deadline imposed by Trump in his initial letter sent to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump said he wrote the letter on March 5, which made it to Iran via an Emirati diplomat on March 12 — putting the deadline in theory as Monday when Trump takes off from Washington for his trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Iran’s internal politics are still inflamed over the mandatory hijab, or headscarf, with women still ignoring the law on the streets of Tehran. Rumors also persist over the government potentially increasing the cost of subsidized gasoline in the country, which has sparked nationwide protests in the past.

Meanwhile, the last round of talks in Oman on April 26 took place as an explosion rocked a southern Iranian port, killing dozens of people and injuring over 1,000 others. Iran still hasn’t explained what caused the blast at the Shahid Rajaei port, which has been linked to a shipment of missile fuel components to the Islamic Republic.

Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, speaks with an unidentified Omani official upon his arrival in Muscat, Oman, for negotiations with U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)

In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, is welcomed by an unidentified Omani official, center, upon his arrival at Muscat, Oman, for negotiations with U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, as Iranian Ambassador to Oman Mousa Farhang walks at right, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)

In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, center, is welcomed by an unidentified Omani official upon his arrival at Muscat, Oman, for negotiations with U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, as Iranian Ambassador to Oman Mousa Farhang stands at right, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)

FILE - This combo shows Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, pictured in Tehran, Iran, on Feb. 25, 2025 and Steve Witkoff, right, White House special envoy, pictured in Washington, on March 19, 2025. (AP Photos Stringer, Mark Schiefelbein)

Steve Witkoff is sworn as special envoy by Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House with President Donald Trump, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Investigators were questioning a family member of director-actor Rob Reiner and his wife Michele after they were found dead at their home in Los Angeles, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.

Investigators believe they suffered stab wounds, said the official, who could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Los Angeles Police had not identified a suspect, Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton, the chief of detectives, said at a briefing on Sunday night.

“We are going to try to speak to every family member that we can to get to the facts of this investigation,” Hamilton said.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said it responded to a medical aid request shortly after 3:30 p.m. and found a 78-year-old man and 68-year-old woman dead inside. Reiner turned 78 in March.

Detectives with the Robbery Homicide Division were investigating an “apparent homicide” at Reiner’s home, said Capt. Mike Bland with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Los Angeles authorities have not confirmed the identities of the people found dead at the residence in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the city’s west side that’s home to many celebrities.

Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including “This is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “The Princess Bride.”

His role as Meathead in Norman Lear's 1970s TV classic “All in the Family,” as a liberal foil to O’Connor’s Archie Bunker, catapulted him to fame and won him two Emmy Awards.

Relatives of Lear, the legendary producer who died in 2023, said the deaths left them bereft.

“Norman often referred to Rob as a son, and their close relationship was extraordinary, to us and the world,” said a Lear family statement. “Norman would have wanted to remind us that Rob and Michele spent every breath trying to make this country a better place, and they pursued that through their art, their activism, their philanthropy, and their love for family and friends.”

Messages to Reiner's representatives were not immediately returned Sunday night.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called it a devastating loss for the city.

“Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice,” Bass said in a statement. “An acclaimed actor, director, producer, writer, and engaged political activist, he always used his gifts in service of others.”

The son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner was married to photographer Michele Singer Reiner since 1989. The two met while he was directing “When Harry Met Sally” and have three children together.

Reiner was previously married to actor-director Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1981. He adopted her daughter, Tracy Reiner. Carl Reiner died in 2020 at age 98 and Marshall died in 2018.

Killings are rare in the Brentwood neighborhood. The scene is about a mile from the home where O.J. Simpson’s wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were killed in 1994.

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Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed.

LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton speaks near Rob Reiner's residence Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

FILE - Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner arrive on the red carpet at the State Department for the Kennedy Center Honors gala dinner, Dec. 2, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File)

FILE - Rob Reiner arrives at the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network's Respect Awards, in Beverly Hills, Calif., Friday, Oct. 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)

A police officer blocks off a street near Rob Reiner's residence Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

FILE - Honoree Rob Reiner, second left, poses with his wife Michele, left, and children Nick, center, Romy, and Jake at the 41st Annual Chaplin Award Gala at Avery Fisher Hall, April 28, 2014, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)