US-Iran nuclear talks to resume in Geneva

Iran and the US hold the latest round of talks in Geneva on Thursday aimed at ‌resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute and averting new US strikes on Iran following a large-scale military buildup.

The two countries renewed negotiations this month, hoping to tackle ​a decades-long stand-off over ⁠Tehran's nuclear program, which Washington, other Western states and Israel believe is aimed at building nuclear arms. Tehran denies this.

US ‌Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President ‌Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will attend the indirect talks with Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, a US official told the media.

The talks follow discussions in Geneva last week and will be mediated by Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi. US President Donald Trump briefly laid out his case for a possible attack on Iran in his State of the Union ‌speech to Congress on Tuesday, saying his preference was to solve the problem through diplomacy, but that he would not allow Tehran to have a nuclear weapon.

On Wednesday ⁠evening, Araqchi and Albusaidi discussed the proposals Iran will put forward to reach an agreement, according to a statement posted on X by Oman's foreign ministry.

Albusaidi is scheduled to meet on Thursday morning with the US negotiating team to convey Iran's views and hear those of the United States, the statement added.

Pressure inside and outside Iran

On Wednesday, US Vice President JD Vance underscored Trump's argument.

"Iran can't have a nuclear weapon. That would be the ultimate military objective, if that's the route that (Trump) chose," Vance said in an interview on Fox News. The US has been assembling a massive military force in the Middle East – its biggest military deployments in ​the region since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 – prompting fears of a wider regional conflict. In June last year the US joined ‌Israel in hitting Iranian nuclear sites. Iran has threatened to retaliate fiercely if attacked again.

Trump said on February 19 that Iran must make a deal in 10-15 days, warning that "really bad things" would otherwise happen.

While the talks will focus on Iran's nuclear programme, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran's refusal to discuss its ballistic missile programme ⁠was a "major problem" that would have to be addressed eventually, as the missiles are "designed solely to strike America" and pose a threat to regional stability.

"If you can't even make progress on the nuclear programme, it's going to be hard to make progress on the ballistic missiles as well," Rubio told reporters in Saint Kitts late on Wednesday.

Reuters