Iran-US talks live updates: Key nuclear talks between Iran and the United States have begun as teams led by Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and US President Donald Trump's special envoy Witkoff met in Oman on Friday.

The presence of U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the American military’s Central Command, in his dress uniform at the talks in Muscat, the Omani capital, served as a reminder that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships were now off the coast of Iran in the Arabian Sea.

Iran has tentatively agreed to resume nuclear talks with the US as it tries to avert the threat of strikes, in what would be the first such negotiations since the Trump administration bombed three of Iran’s nuclear sites last summer.

Tensions in the Middle East are escalating as Russia moves closer to delivering advanced Su-35 fighter jets to Iran in a deal worth up to $7 billion. Leaked reports and recent flight-test sightings suggest Moscow is preparing to supply Tehran with up to 48 next-generation jets,

Iran-US news highlights: Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran was ready to participate in "fair and equitable" negotiations, but added there were currently no meetings with US officials arranged.

Fresh tensions are erupting across the global security landscape.rnrnAn Iranian drone confronts a US aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, gets shot down. Is Iran testing US naval defences?rnUnverified claims suggest China may be quietly supplying Tehran with military hardware.

The US military shot down an Iranian drone that “aggressively” approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, the US military said, in an incident first reported by Reuters.