Iran and the United States held talks in the sultanate of Oman on Saturday, jump-starting negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.

Iran’s state-run broadcaster said US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi “briefly spoke” together — the first time the two nations have done that since the Obama administration.

Araghchi said more talks are planned for April 17.

The talks represent a milestone in the fraught relations between the two nations over Iran’s program, which is enriching uranium close to weapons-grade levels.

Here’s a timeline of the tensions between the two countries over Iran’s atomic program.

1967 — Iran takes possession of its Tehran Research Reactor under America’s “Atoms for Peace” program.

1979 — Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fatally ill, flees Iran as popular protests against him surge. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran and the Islamic Revolution sweeps him to power. Students seize the United States Embassy in Tehran, beginning the 444-day hostage crisis. Iran’s nuclear program goes fallow under international pressure.

August 2002 — Western intelligence services and an Iranian opposition group reveal Iran’s secret Natanz nuclear enrichment facility.

June 2003 — Britain, France and Germany engage Iran in nuclear negotiations.

October 2003 — Iran suspends uranium enrichment.

February 2006 — Iran announces it will restart uranium enrichment following the election of hard-line president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Britain, France and Germany walk out of stalled negotiations.

June 2009 — Iran’s disputed presidential election sees Ahmadinejad re-elected despite fraud allegations, sparking Green Movement protests and a violent government crackdown.

October 2009 — Under President Barack Obama, the US and Iran open a secret backchannel for messages in the sultanate of Oman.

July 2012 — US and Iranian officials hold face-to-face secret talks in Oman.

July 14, 2015 — World powers and Iran announce a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limits Tehran’s........

© The Times of Israel