Arab leaders convince Trump not to cancel talks with Iran - report

Nine Arab states convinced U.S. President Donald Trump not to cancel the Oman meeting with Iran, Axios reported, citing sources.

"At least nine countries from the region reached out to the White House at the highest levels strongly urging the U.S. not to cancel the meeting," Axios reported.

The talks will be held in Oman, as Iran insisted, after several Middle Eastern leaders urgently lobbied the Trump administration not to walk away.

"They asked us to keep the meeting and listen to what the Iranians have to say. We have told the Arabs that we will do the meeting if they insist. But we are very skeptical," one U.S. official said.

The Trump administration agreed to hold the meeting "to be respectful" to U.S. allies in the region and "in order to continue pursuing the diplomatic track",  Axios reported.

Earlier, it was reported that the Iran-U.S. talks appeared to have been cancelled since the White House has rejected Tehran's demands to change the location and format of talks planned for Friday.