US and Iran to hold third round of nuclear talks as more US forces deploy to Middle East
GENEVA (AP) — Iran and the United States prepared to meet Thursday in Geneva for nuclear talks seen as a last chance for diplomacy, as the United States has assembled a fleet of planes and warships for the Middle East to pressure Tehran to reach a deal.
US President Donald Trump wants a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program and sees an opportunity as the country struggles internally with growing dissent following nationwide protests last month. Meanwhile, Iran has maintained that it wants to continue enriching uranium even as its program is in ruins, after Trump ordered a strike in June on three of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites, part of a grueling 12-day war last year.
If a US attack occurs, Iran has said all US military bases in the Middle East would be considered legitimate targets, putting tens of thousands of US service members at risk. Iran has also threatened to attack Israel, meaning a regional war could break out again across the Middle East.
“There would be no victory for anyone; it would be a devastating war,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told India Today in an interview filmed on Wednesday, just before flying to Geneva.
“Since the US bases are scattered in different places in the region, unfortunately maybe the entire region would be involved, so it is a very dire scenario.”
Geneva talks will be third meeting since June war
Araghchi will again sit across from Steve Witkoff, a billionaire real estate developer and Trump friend who serves as the president’s special envoy to the Middle East. The two men held multiple rounds of talks last year that collapsed after Israel launched its war against Iran in June. These latest talks are again mediated by Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula that has long served as an interlocutor between Iran and the West.
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Araghchi met with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi after arriving in Geneva on Wednesday evening. The men “reviewed the views and proposals that the Iranian side will put forward to reach an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, based on the guiding principles agreed upon in the previous round of negotiations,” a report by Oman’s state news agency said. Al-Busaidi will convey Iran’s offer to US officials on Thursday, he added.
An News journalist saw al-Busaidi after meeting with the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog. The Omani diplomat gave a thumbs up when asked if he was hopeful about the talks.
Al-Busaidi returned to the Omani diplomatic residence on the shores of Lake Geneva on Thursday. A convoy believed to be carrying American diplomats later arrived at the complex, followed by another believed to be carrying Iranian diplomats.
In this round of negotiations after the June war, Trump has pushed to completely halt Iran’s uranium enrichment, as well as address Tehran’s ballistic missile program and its support for regional militant forces. Iran has maintained that talks should continue to focus solely on nuclear issues.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that Iran is “always trying to rebuild elements” of its nuclear program. He said Tehran is not enriching uranium at the moment, “but they are trying to get to the point where they can eventually do it.”
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Iran has said it has not enriched since June, but has prevented IAEA inspectors from visiting sites bombed by the United States. Satellite photographs analyzed by The News also showed activity at two of those sites, suggesting Iran is trying to assess and potentially recover material there.
The West and the IAEA say Iran had a nuclear weapons program until 2003. Before the June attack, it had been enriching uranium to 60% purity, a short and technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
US intelligence agencies assess that Iran has not yet restarted a weapons program but has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.” While insisting their program is peaceful, Iranian officials have threatened to pursue the bomb in recent years.
“The principle is very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” US Vice President JD Vance told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
Vance said Trump is “sending those negotiators to try to address that issue” and “wants to address that issue diplomatically.”
“But of course the president has other options as well,” Vance added.
Threat of military action raises fears of war
If talks fail, uncertainty looms over the timing of any potential attack.
If the goal of possible military action is to pressure Iran to make concessions in nuclear negotiations, it is not clear whether limited strikes would work. If the goal is to overthrow Iran’s leaders, that will likely commit the United States to a broader and longer military campaign. There has been no public sign of planning for what would come next, including the potential for chaos in Iran.
There is also uncertainty about what any military action could mean for the broader region. Tehran could retaliate against US-allied nations in the Persian Gulf or against Israel. Oil prices have risen in recent days in part because of those concerns, and benchmark Brent crude now hovers around $70 a barrel. In the latest round of talks, Iran said it briefly halted traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all traded oil passes.
Satellite photos taken Tuesday and Wednesday by Planet Labs PBC and analyzed by the AP appeared to show that U.S. ships that normally dock in Bahrain, home of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, were all at sea. The Fifth Fleet referred questions to the US military’s Central Command, which declined to comment. Before Iran’s attack on Qatar in June, the Fifth Fleet also dispersed its ships at sea to protect against a possible attack.
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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Melanie Lidman from Jerusalem. News writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.