Iran has requested that nuclear talks with the United States be held in Oman on Friday, a source familiar with the discussions told Fox News, as Tehran pushes for changes to the structure of renewed negotiations.

The request comes as Axios reported that Iranian officials are also pressing to limit the talks to a bilateral U.S.-Iran format, excluding other Arab and regional countries — a move that could complicate U.S. diplomatic efforts in the region.

The State Department has not publicly confirmed whether any talks are scheduled or what format they would take.

Reuters reported Monday that Tehran is examining the possibility of renewed nuclear talks with the United States, with Turkey emerging as a potential venue and regional mediators, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, playing an active role, after President Donald Trump said he was hopeful a deal could be reached to avert military action against Iran.

Trump has reportedly been weighing his options on a possible military strike on Iran amid widespread protests and violent crackdowns inside the country. Trump announced last week that a ‘massive Armada is heading to Iran,’ led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that talks between the U.S. and Iran are still scheduled, confirming special envoy Steve Witkoff remains engaged in diplomatic discussions.

‘Oh, look, I just spoke with special envoy Witkoff. And, these talks as of right now are still scheduled. President Trump is always wanting to pursue diplomacy first, but obviously it takes two to tango. You need a willing partner to achieve diplomacy. And that’s something that special envoy Witkoff is intent on exploring and discussing,’ Leavitt said.

Leavitt added that Trump continues to keep military options on the table.

‘As always, though, of course, the president has a range of options on the table with respect to Iran. As commander in chief, I think they learned that quite well last year with the strike in Operation Midnight Hammer, which was wildly successful and obliterated their nuclear capabilities. But those talks will continue later this week as far as we’re concerned. Right now,’ she said.

The news comes after six Iranian gunboats unsuccessfully attempted to halt a U.S.-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The security firm Vanguard Tech told its clients on Tuesday that the Iranian vessels were armed with .50-caliber guns, and they ordered the oil tanker to turn off its engines and prepare to be boarded. Instead, the tanker sped up and was ultimately escorted to safety by a U.S. Navy vessel, according to the Journal.

In addition, the U.S. military shot down an unmanned Iranian drone Tuesday after it ‘aggressively approached a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier with unclear intent,’ a U.S. Central Command spokesman told Fox News. No U.S. service members were injured and no U.S. equipment was damaged during the incident.  

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Greg Norman contributed to this report.

The Iranian president, who just days ago accused President Donald Trump of provoking unrest and trying to ‘tear this country apart,’ is now striking a softer tone regarding talks about its nuclear program, following a warning from Trump. 

Trump said at the White House on Monday that the U.S. is talking with Iran and that he would ‘like to see a deal negotiated.’  

‘And if we could work something out, that’d be great,’ Trump added. ‘And if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.’ 

Masoud Pezeshkian then took to X on Tuesday and wrote, ‘In light of requests from friendly governments in the region to respond to the proposal by the President of the United States for negotiations: I have instructed my Minister of Foreign Affairs, provided that a suitable environment exists — one free from threats and unreasonable expectations — to pursue fair and equitable negotiations, guided by the principles of dignity, prudence, and expediency.’

‘These negotiations shall be conducted within the framework of our national interests,’ Pezeshkian also said. 

Axios has reported that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Istanbul on Friday. However, a source familiar with the matter told Fox News on Tuesday that Iran wants to move the discussions to Oman.

Pezeshkian told state television on Saturday that Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and European leaders ‘rode on our problems, provoked, and were seeking — and still seek — to fragment society,’ according to Reuters.

‘They brought them into the streets and wanted, as they said, to tear this country apart, to sow conflict and hatred among the people and create division,’ Pezeshkian reportedly added about the anti-government protests and deadly crackdown that recently swept through Iran. ‘Everyone knows that the issue was not just a social protest.’   

Then in a series of posts on X on Tuesday, Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, ‘The United States wants to devour Iran; the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic prevent this,’ and, ‘Iran stands firm and will continue to stand firm, and — God willing — will put an end to the United States’ mischief and harassment.’

‘The recent sedition was orchestrated by Zionists & the US. I was informed through a certain channel that the CIA & Mossad deployed all of their resources into the field!’  Khamenei also claimed, without providing any evidence.

Trump said last week that ‘time is running out for Iran.’

In a Truth Social post last Wednesday, Trump wrote, ‘A massive Armada is heading to Iran.’  

‘It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela. Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary. Hopefully, Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS — one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!’ the president warned. 

The House of Representatives passed a federal funding bill aimed at ending the partial government shutdown on Tuesday, which will bring the four-day standoff to a close shortly after the legislation gets to President Donald Trump’s desk.

The funding bill, which passed the House 217-214, is a compromise struck between Senate Democrats and the White House that would fund roughly 97% of the federal government through the end of fiscal 2026.

Trump played an integral role in hashing out the new deal and quelling a subsequent rebellion by conservative lawmakers to get it over the finish line.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., signaled he was strongly against the plan, despite his Senate counterpart’s role in putting it together. But 21 Democrats bucked his concerns in the end to vote in favor of it.

Jeffries and his top lieutenants in the House Democratic Caucus all voted against the bill, however.

On the GOP side, 21 Republicans voted against the legislation while 196 were in favor.

Democrats had initially walked away from a bipartisan House deal to finish funding the federal government through the end of fiscal 2026 on Sept. 30, rebelling against a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over Trump’s handling of unrest in Minneapolis.

Their mutiny left roughly 78% of the government’s yearly funding hanging in the balance because the DHS bill was lumped into a wider package authorizing budgets for the departments of War, Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Education.

The deal struck between Senate Democrats and the White House would fully fund those remaining areas while only extending current funding levels for DHS through Feb. 13, in order to give Democrats and Republicans time to hash out a longer-term bipartisan plan.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters on Tuesday that the legislation would succeed, though he hinted at some dissatisfaction with how negotiations played out.

‘This is not my preferred route. I wanted to keep all six bills together,’ Johnson said. ‘But listen, the president agreed with Schumer that they would separate Homeland, and we’ll do that, and we’ll handle it.… The Republicans are going to do the responsible thing.’

The Senate’s federal funding deal survived an important hurdle late Tuesday morning, clearing a House-wide ‘rule vote’ to allow for lawmakers to debate the measure and set up a vote on final passage by early afternoon.

It comes after a pair of House conservatives announced they would be backing off their threats to sink the legislation during the rule vote if the legislation was not paired with an unrelated election integrity bill called the SAVE America Act.

Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., and Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., warned they would not support the bill during the rule vote without the SAVE America Act attached but pivoted on Monday night after a conversation with the White House.

‘As of right now, with the current agreement that we have, as well as discussions, we will both be a yes on the rule,’ Luna said. ‘There is something called a standing filibuster that would effectively allow Sen. Thune to put voter ID on the floor of the Senate. We are hearing that that is going well, and he is considering that… so we are very happy about that.’

The SAVE America Act would require voter ID at the polls and create a new proof of citizenship mandate in the voter registration process.

But it appears Luna’s insistence that Thune had embraced the standing filibuster, a little-known and antiquated legislative maneuver, was not quite accurate.

Still, Thune said there were Senate Republicans who ‘expressed an interest in that, so we’re going to have a conversation about it. But there weren’t any commitments made.’

He noted that forcing the standing filibuster to try and pass the SAVE America Act, or any of its variations coming from the House, would be a massive drain on time in the Senate.

Doing so ‘ties up floor time indefinitely,’ Thune said. That’s because of rules that guarantee any senator gets up to two speeches on a bill. That, coupled with the clock being reset by amendments to the bill, means that the Senate could effectively be paralyzed for months as Republicans chip away at Democratic opposition.

‘There’s always an opportunity cost,’ Thune said.

‘Well, at any time there’s an amendment offered, and that amendment is tabled, it resets the clock,’ he continued. ‘The two-speech rule kicks in again. So let’s say, you know, every Democrat senator talks for two hours. That’s 940 hours on the floor.’

It’s not immediately clear when Trump will sign the funding bill, but it’s expected the White House will want to move fast. The longest government shutdown in history, which lasted 43 days, just ended in November.

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be deposed by the House Oversight Committee at the end of this month.

Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., announced Hillary Clinton will sit for a closed-door transcribed interview on Feb. 26, and Bill Clinton will appear on Feb. 27 under the same terms.

Both interviews will be filmed, Comer’s press release said. 

It comes after weeks of back-and-forth between the former first couple and the House GOP-led committee about whether they would testify in the chamber’s probe into Jeffrey Epstein, and under what terms.

The Clintons were both facing contempt of Congress votes in the House this week if they did not agree to come to Capitol Hill for in-person interviews with the Oversight Committee.

Those votes were likely to succeed as well. Late last month, nine Democrats on the House Oversight Committee joined all Republicans in voting to advance Bill Clinton’s contempt of Congress resolution to a House-wide vote. Three Democrats voted to advance the resolution against Hillary Clinton.

A contempt of Congress vote would refer both Clintons to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for criminal prosecution.

A contempt of Congress conviction is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum fine of $100,000 and up to a year in jail.

‘Republicans and Democrats on the Oversight Committee have been clear: no one is above the law — and that includes the Clintons. After delaying and defying duly issued subpoenas for six months, the House Oversight Committee moved swiftly to initiate contempt of Congress proceedings in response to their non-compliance,’ Comer said in a statement.

‘Once it became clear that the House of Representatives would hold them in contempt, the Clintons completely caved and will appear for transcribed, filmed depositions this month. We look forward to questioning the Clintons as part of our investigation into the horrific crimes of Epstein and Maxwell, to deliver transparency and accountability for the American people and for survivors.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Bill Clinton’s spokesman for comment.

The Clintons were two of 10 people subpoenaed for testimony before the committee as it probes the federal government’s handling of Epstein’s case. So far just two people subpoenaed by the committee, former Attorney General Bill Barr and ex-Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, have appeared in person.

Their attorneys wrote to Comer last month calling his subpoenas legally invalid and a violation of separation of powers, arguments the Kentucky Republican rejected.

‘President and Secretary Clinton have already provided the limited information they possess about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to the Committee. They did so proactively and voluntarily, and despite the fact that the Subpoenas are invalid and legally unenforceable, untethered to a valid legislative purpose, unwarranted because they do not seek pertinent information, and an unprecedented infringement on the separation of powers,’ the letter read.

The two sides then went back-and-forth discussing various terms as Comer continued to forge ahead with contempt proceedings.

Comer twice rejected offers for himself and Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the committee, to travel to New York with limited staff to interview Bill Clinton. 

Meanwhile, Democrats had accused Comer of pursuing the contempt charges for political motivations rather than to get closure for Epstein’s victims.

Bill Clinton was known to have a friendship with Epstein before his federal criminal charges and is among many high-profile names to appear in the trove of files being released on the late pedophile by the DOJ. But there has been no implication of wrongdoing by either of the Clintons as it relates to Epstein.

With a looming vote that could have set up an unprecedented criminal prosecution, the Clintons’ attorneys wrote to the committee on Monday, ‘[M]y clients accept the terms of your letter and will appear for depositions on mutually agreeable dates. As has been the Committee’s practice, please confirm the House will not move forward with contempt proceedings, as the Chairman stated in his letter this morning.’