DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Talks between Iran and the United States will take place Friday in Oman, Iranian media reported as tensions between the countries remain high following Tehran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month.
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.
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 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.
On Tuesday, Iran's reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian said he had instructed the foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the U.S., in the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate.
The shift toward negotiations marked a major turn for Iran, and signals that the move is supported by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state. The 86-year-old cleric previously dismissed any negotiations.
On Tuesday, a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that approached an American aircraft carrier. Iranian fast boats from its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard also tried to stop a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, the Navy said.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge either incident, which strained but apparently did not derail hopes for talks with the U.S.
On Wednesday, Iranian military chiefs visited a missile base in an attempt to highlight its military readiness after a 12-day war with Israel in June devastated Iran’s air defenses.
The footage of the visit to a base holding the Khorramshahr missile, which has a range of more than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) and was launched towards Israel during the war last year, will be broadcast on Iranian state television Wednesday evening.
Also Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated Turkey’s opposition to foreign intervention in neighboring Iran, calling for the resolution of issues through dialogue.
Turkey has been urgently working for the past week to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table, and was previously expected to host the talks.
“We believe that external interventions involving our neighbor Iran would pose significant risks for the entire region,” Erdogan said during a visit to Cairo. “Resolving issues with Iran, including the nuclear file, through diplomatic means is the most appropriate approach.”
Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Farnoush Amiri in New York and Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed.
FILE - 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, May 11, 2025. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP, File)
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Lindsey Vonn needed to use a crutch to get around over the weekend. Now she’s performing box jumps, working out in a pool while wearing a weighted vest and skiing at high speed.
No wonder the 41-year-old American is so optimistic that she can compete in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics downhill on Sunday despite a ruptured ACL in her left knee.
“I’m pretty confident that she can still pull off this dream,” Chris Knight, Vonn’s head coach, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I’ve got no doubts in my mind that this is going to be OK.”
Vonn’s team of two physical therapists — Lindsay Winninger and Andi Mitterfellner — and fitness trainer Peter Meliessnig have been working overtime with her.
“She’s been doing box jumps, she’s trying everything out, loads and stresses and things like that to just see where she’s at and see how she feels and she’s pulled up great from everything,” Knight said. “No swelling, no pain.”
Vonn said on Tuesday that surgery “hasn’t been discussed."
“It’s not really on my radar screen right now. The Olympics are the only thing that I’m thinking about,” she said. “Every day my knee’s gotten better. And every day we’re discussing with a full medical team, doctors, physios, everyone, to make sure we’re doing everything to make sure I am making smart and safe decisions.”
Vonn had a partial titanium replacement inserted into her right knee in 2024 and returned to ski racing last season after nearly six years of retirement.
Now she also has bone bruising and meniscal damage in her left knee, though her doctors are not sure if the meniscal issue is a result of her latest injury or from her long series of mishaps earlier in her career.
“She’s not 20 years old, she’s 40 years old. And we’re not looking at anything past this year anyway,” Knight said. “Obviously there’s some risks to just to be able to even ski at the level she wants to ski at. And nobody knows 100% what’s going to happen. But all the right markers and factors are there for us. … It’s a pretty easy decision to keep moving forward.”
Vonn was injured when she lost control landing a jump in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, on Friday, and ended up crashing into the safety nets.
“She did have a crutch up until yesterday,” Knight said. “Just to help with a little bit of the load-bearing, but now that’s gone, too."
After using a crutch on Monday, Vonn tried some free skiing on Tuesday.
“She did some high-speed skiing,” Knight said, “and had no issues.”
Still, Vonn and her team could use some more time for recovery. Knight said she wouldn’t mind if there’s a weather-related cancellation and they got their wish Wednesday when organizers announced that Thursday’s opening downhill training session would not be held due to the heavy ongoing snowfall on the course.
“But we also need to get out of the start gate on one training run in case something happens further along the line and they have to cancel something else,” Knight said.
Two more training sessions are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, and Vonn needs to start at least one session to take part in Sunday’s race. She might only do just one.
“We have to see what the conditions are like,” Knight said. “There’s lots of options.”
Vonn holds the record of 12 World Cup wins in Cortina and has been racing here for nearly a quarter century, since before some of her current competitors were born. She's also come back successfully from injuries of this magnitude before.
“We’re on familiar territory,” Knight said. “That’s always been the most important part of it, going into this whole comeback 18-month project, is that we knew that we would get to a spot where she’s very, very familiar with. … Nothing is unknown apart from what’s just happened.”
There’s also this: Vonn wants to race in honor of her late mother, Lindy, who died in 2022 of ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and her childhood coach, Erich Sailer, who died in August aged 99.
She stopped to visit Sailer’s grave in Austria on her way to Cortina.
“It’s just so many reasons for her to not let go that they’re powering her along and keeping the adrenaline high,” Knight said. “You don’t want to slow down in these situations.”
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
United States' Lindsey Vonn holds her left knee after crashing, during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)
United States' Lindsey Vonn, Isabella Wright, Mary Bocock and Breezy Johnson, from left, attend a press conference by the U.S. ski team at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
United States' Lindsey Vonn smiles during a press conference by the U.S. ski team at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
United States' Lindsey Vonn approaches the finish area after crashing, during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)
United States' Lindsey Vonn attends a press conference by the U.S. ski team at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
