Iranian plane makes mysterious landing in Oman. Will Trump give Tehran one last chance?

Amid reports that US President Donald Trump has approved of plans to attack Iran but is waiting, three Iranian aircraft - a primary presidential plane and two other government airliners - made a mysterious landing in Oman. Though there is no official word about it, it was in Muscat that the Iranian delegation met with Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff for negotiations before Israel launched an attack.

It is unclear from where the Iranian planes, using the callsigns JJ25, JJ26, and JJ28, took off. The Tehran airport is closed after the Israeli attacks. Though publicly available air traffic control recordings suggested that a fourth aircraft from Iran may be inbound to Muscat, there is no clear data on this.

One of the aircraft that landed is an A340, which carries the Iranian registration code EP-IGA. This has been used to transport Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in the past.

It is anticipated that the delegation will be in Muscat for ceasefire talks. Earlier, Trump had stated that the Iranian delegation got in touch with the White House for ceasefire talks. "They want to negotiate. I ask: why didn’t they negotiate two weeks ago," Trump said, adding that "it was very late to be talking."

Iran had also approached Oman, Qatar and other allies in the Middle East with regard to the ceasefire. 

However, Iran rejected the statement, adding that "no Iranians has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House".

Then there are also speculations about defections. Earlier reports hinted that aides of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are in talks with Moscow to flee. Just after the Israeli attacks began, a number of Iranian airliners, including ones belonging to Mahan Air and Fars Air Qeshm, linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), were previously tracked leaving Tehran over the weekend.

However, Iran has publicly given no hints about any intentions to surrender despite Trump’s call to do so.

Time is running out for Iran as reports hint that Trump had informed his aides that he is willing to join the military campaign against Iran. He has already approved of plans to attack Iran, but he is waiting to see if Iran will abandon its nuclear program before giving the final order, according to the Wall Street Journal.  

A senior US official told Axios that the US is going to be ready to strike Iran. "We're not convinced yet that we're necessary. And we want to be unnecessary, but I think the president's just not convinced we are needed yet," a U.S. official said.

The US intervention is critical to ensure that Israel achieves its goal of total destruction of Iran's nuclear capacities by bombing the Fordow uranium enrichment site, which is built into a mountain south of Tehran. Israel lacks the ammunition and aircraft to carry out the operation and only the US can with its 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on a B-2 bomber aircraft to carry them. The U.S. has both within flying range of Iran.

 Trump has also specifically asked his military advisers whether the bunker-buster bombs would work as they have never been used on the battlefield. hePentagon officials told Trump they're confident it would, an official told Axios. But it's not clear Trump was totally convinced.

Middle East