Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Kazem Gharibabadi was captured on video, pocketing a gold fountain pen during the negotiations with the United States in Oman last Saturday. All participants were provided with similar pens to use during the talks, as per protocol.
The images of the deputy minister as he placed the pen in his pocket spread on social media like wildfire. The Omani press described his actions as theft, while in Iran, it was described as an innocent mistake.
According to a report in the Times of Oman, the Iranian ambassador demanded an apology for the local coverage of the incident.
Meanwhile in Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump met with his top national security aides on Tuesday to discuss Iran’s nuclear program ahead of a second meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials on Saturday, sources said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump’s bottom line in the talks, which included an initial session last Saturday, is that he wanted to use negotiations to ensure Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.
