Geneva: Iran and the US hold the latest round of talks in Geneva on Thursday to resolve a long-standing nuclear dispute and prevent fresh US strikes, as Washington builds up massive forces in the Middle East, reports said.
The negotiations, renewed this month, target Tehran’s nuclear programme — which the US, other Western nations and Israel believe is aimed at building nuclear arms. Tehran has consistently denied this, though.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will join the talks opposite Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, a US official told Reuters. Thursday’s talks, which follow discussions in Geneva last week, will be mediated by Oman’s foreign minister Badr Albusaidi.
Reports said International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi is also expected to be in Geneva during the talks to hold discussions with both sides, as he did last week.
The session follows Trump’s State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday where he briefly laid out his case for a possible attack on Iran in his State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday, saying he would prefer to solve the problem through diplomacy, but that he would not allow Tehran to have a nuclear weapon.
Vice President JD Vance reinforced this on Wednesday during a Fox News interview: “Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon. That would be the ultimate military objective, if that’s the route that (Trump) chose.”
The US deployment marks its biggest in the region since the 2003 Iraq invasion, raising alarms of broader conflict. Last June, the US and Israel struck Iranian nuclear sites with Tehran now vowing fierce retaliation if hit again. On February 19, Trump warned Iran to strike a deal in 10-15 days or face “really bad things.”
Meanwhile, oil prices rose slightly on Thursday as markets weighed talk outcomes against supply risks, though US crude inventory builds limited gains. Saudi Arabia is boosting oil production and exports as a contingency for potential disruptions from a US strike, sources said Wednesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, Araghchi called for a “fair, swift deal” without surrendering peaceful nuclear rights: “A deal is within reach, but only if diplomacy is given priority,” he said.
Reuters reported Sunday that Tehran offers new concessions for sanctions relief and uranium enrichment in an effort to avert attack.
As of now, both sides remain sharply divided even over the scope and sequencing of relief from crippling US sanctions, a senior Iranian official told Reuters. Amid this heightening tension Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confronts his worst crisis in 36 years with an economy burdened under the weight of tightened sanctions and renewed protests following major unrest and a bloody crackdown in January.
