Economic grievances sparked mass protests in Iran last month that morphed into anti-regime demonstrations and drew a vicious and deadly government response. Photo / Getty Images
A second round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States concluded in Geneva on Tuesday without any breakthrough, according to statements by Iran and Oman, which is mediating the talks. But both said some progress had been made.
The meeting occurred against the backdrop of an expanded US military presence in the Middle East, as President Donald Trump threatens to attack Iran if a deal cannot be reached. Iranian officials have said a deal is possible, but cautioned the diplomacy may take time. Trump has said time is limited but hasn’t set an explicit deadline.
Tensions have been mounting for weeks, raising fears of a military confrontation if talks fail. On Tuesday, Tehran again appeared to signal its ability to close the Strait of Hormuz by conducting a second day of military drills in the crucial choke point for the world’s oil.
The Iran talks weren’t the only high-stakes diplomacy to unfold Tuesday in Geneva. The Swiss city also hosted Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators planning to open the latest round of talks aimed at ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Iranian and US negotiators appear to have focused on Iran’s nuclear programme, with the United States seeking curbs on Tehran to keep it from developing a nuclear weapon. In exchange, Iran is seeking a reprieve from crushing US sanctions as it struggles to address domestic turmoil in the aftermath of a deadly government crackdown on nationwide protests.
The meeting in Geneva on Tuesday lasted more than three hours. Afterwards, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that he and his US counterparts had “much more serious discussions” than during the round earlier this month and that they “were able to reach a set of guiding principles,” according to a statement published by Iran’s state media.
But Araghchi cautioned that drafting an agreement would remain difficult. “Both sides have stances that will take some time to get closer to each other,” he said. A third round of talks will be held after the two teams draft and exchange possible texts of a deal, but no date has been set, according to Araghchi.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who mediated the talks, said, “much work is yet to be done, and the parties left with clear next steps before the next meeting,” according to a statement on X after the meeting concluded. Oman hosted the talks at its consulate and mediated the previous round in the Omani capital, Muscat.
The United States has yet to comment on how Tuesday’s talks went. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One late Monday, Trump said that the Iranian negotiators have been “tough” but that he hoped they would be “more reasonable.” Trump said the Iranians “want to make a deal. I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal.”
The US negotiating team is led by envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. They are also responsible for the Russia-Ukraine talks occurring at the InterContinental Hotel, about a seven-minute drive from the Omani Consulate, according to the Tass state news agency. Araghchi is leading the team from Iran.
Since the earlier round of talks in Oman, Trump has expanded a military build-up in the region and repeatedly threatened the use of force if negotiations fail. Late last week, the Pentagon deployed a second aircraft carrier strike group to the region that joins at least a dozen other US warships in the area.
Iran has threatened retaliation if attacked, and US allies in the Persian Gulf have said Tehran’s missile programme poses a deadly threat to US interests in the region, including more than a dozen military bases and tens of thousands of troops.
As talks were underway Tuesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei threatened US naval assets in the Persian Gulf. “What is more dangerous than the warship is the weapon that can sink it to the bottom of the sea,” Khamenei said, according to the semiofficial Mehr News Agency Arabic.
It is unclear what compromises the two sides might be willing to make or accept, but details of various proposals have emerged. It appears the central issue continues to be Iranian nuclear enrichment capabilities.
Trump said as recently as Friday that “we don’t want any enrichment” – a position strongly supported by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said in a speech Sunday that Iran must be required to relinquish all its enriched uranium and be barred from enriching more in any deal negotiated with the United States.
But in an interview with the BBC on Sunday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht Ravanchi suggested the US was no longer insisting on zero enrichment. The “issue of zero enrichment is not an issue anymore, and as far as Iran is concerned,” Ravanchi said, “it is not on the table anymore”.
Ravanchi did not rule out an agreement to ship Iran’s stockpile of uranium out of the country. He also said that an Iranian offer to dilute its highly enriched uranium was proof of its willingness to compromise and that the sides had also discussed shared interests in critical minerals, oil and gas.
Tehran is demanding significant relief from US sanctions in exchange for limits on its nuclear programme. Iran’s economic situation is dire, and without sanctions relief, the country’s leadership seems unable to improve living conditions for the population. Economic grievances sparked mass protests last month that morphed into anti-regime demonstrations and drew a vicious and deadly government response.
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