German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul adjusted his originally planned Middle East trip to Lebanon, Syria and Israel immediately after the start of Israel's attack on Iran on Friday.
Instead, he travelled to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman for crisis talks. The government in Oman, in particular, has very strong contacts with Tehran.
Wadephul is aiming to coordinate an initiative involving the so-called E3 states - Germany, France and the United Kingdom - which have been negotiating with Tehran over its nuclear programme for years, as well as with neighbouring Arab states, to achieve a diplomatic solution to the war.
The US and Iran had been negotiating under the mediation of Oman for nearly two months, before Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Friday, targeting nuclear facilities, military installations and sites in major cities. Iran has responded with intense missile strikes against Israel.
A new round of talks in Oman had been planned for last Sunday, though negotiations had recently stalled over the key issue of uranium enrichment.
While Tehran expressed willingness to scale back its programme in line with the 2015 Vienna nuclear agreement, it refused to relinquish its enrichment capabilities.
During his first term, US President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 from that agreement, after which Tehran ceased to comply with it.
Trump reiterated on Wednesday his demand for an "unconditional surrender" but did not entirely rule out further negotiations.
During a meeting with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi in Berlin on Wednesday, Wadephul announced that he, along with his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot, British Foreign Minister David Lammy and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, had made a negotiation offer to Araghchi during a phone call on Monday.
Wadephul said the group remains ready to negotiate but said Tehran must take "confidence-building and verifiable measures, that show it is not seeking nuclear weapons."
"It is never too late to come to the negotiating table if one comes with honest intentions," he said.
Meanwhile, the conflict between Israel and Iran continues unabated. Observers have recently expressed little hope for a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear dispute with Iran. Israel has justified its war by citing the "existential threat" posed by Iran's nuclear and missile programme.
