U.S. and Iranian negotiators sat down for high-stakes talks Tuesday in Geneva, with President Trump’s menace to launch a brand new assault on the Islamic Republic if a deal on its nuclear program can’t be hashed out looming giant over the discussions.
The negotiations, mediated by Oman, had been anticipated to deal with Tehran’s nuclear program, however Israel’s chief has pressed Mr. Trump to incorporate limitations on Iran‘s typical ballistic missiles in any new settlement. Mr. Trump instructed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in December that if no deal may very well be reached with Iran, the U.S. would assist Israeli strikes on Iran’s ballistic missile program, in response to two sources conversant in the matter.
That menace of potential army motion is backed up by a big U.S. army presence within the waters round Iran — with one plane service strike group already within the space and one other on its approach.
In a speech delivered in Tehran on Tuesday because the talks obtained underway, Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was characteristically dismissive of the U.S. army menace, saying: “A warship is definitely a harmful weapon, however much more harmful is the weapon able to sinking it.”
Talking Monday night time to reporters on Air Pressure One, President Trump mentioned he could be concerned within the negotiations “not directly.” He mentioned Iran was “usually a really powerful negotiator,” however mentioned he believes the regime needs to make a deal.
“I don’t assume they need the implications of not making a deal,” the president mentioned.
The U.S. delegation in Geneva is led by Mr. Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Iranian workforce is headed by International Minister Abbas Araghchi. There was no confirmed timetable for this spherical of talks, however Tuesday’s discussions ended after a number of hours.
Pierre Albouy/REUTERS
What does Iran need?
Tehran is determined to get damaging U.S. financial sanctions eased. Iran was already constrained by a protracted listing of worldwide sanctions when President Trump, throughout his first time period in workplace, pulled the U.S. unilaterally out of the 2015 worldwide nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama.
After doing so, Mr. Trump hit Iran with much more draconian financial punishment, and the sanctions have left the nation’s funds in tatters, with sky-high inflation and a devaluation of the native foreign money making fundamental requirements arduous to afford even for the comparatively well-off.
The sanctions-induced financial struggling led to an eruption of anger in early January, sparking a wave of protests that was unprecedented — and which drew an unprecedented and violent crackdown in response.
Iranian authorities arrested 1000’s of individuals in the course of the protests, they usually have continued threatening anybody seen as having supported the unrest. However to move off one other mass rebellion, the Islamic Republic’s management is aware of the best choice could be to get sanctions lifted so Iranians can afford meals and gasoline once more.
What it’s not keen to do to make that occur, nevertheless, is essential. Iranian officers have insisted on preserving the nation’s proper to counterpoint uranium for a civilian nuclear program.
In a submit on social media, Araghchi mentioned he was in Geneva “with actual concepts to realize a good and equitable deal. What shouldn’t be on the desk: submission earlier than threats.”
Iran has signaled a willingness to barter on its nuclear enrichment program, and Araghchi met forward of the talks in Geneva with Rafael Grossi, the top of the United Nations’ Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company (IAEA).
Iranian Ministry of International Affairs/AFP/Getty
The IAEA was tasked with monitoring Iran’s adherence to the final nuclear deal, which disintegrated slowly after Mr. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the settlement in 2018.
What does the U.S. need?
The U.S. delegation is prone to push calls for designed to constrain Tehran’s nuclear capabilities, together with the potential discount or removing of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile and a brand new IAEA monitoring plan.
However the Trump administration has consulted with Israel recurrently on the matter, and Netanyahu has been adamant that any new cope with Iran should embody restrictions on ballistic missiles and Iran’s funding of proxy forces within the area. Israel additionally says Iran shouldn’t have any home nuclear enrichment capabilities by any means.
It’s not clear how a lot these calls for will issue into the discussions in Geneva this week.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned Monday that there was hope for a diplomatic breakthrough, including that President Trump “at all times prefers peaceable outcomes and negotiated outcomes to issues.”
What preceded the talks?
This spherical of negotiations come after years of false diplomatic begins — and one dramatic flare-up in June of 2025, when the U.S. joined a 12-day Israeli battle on Iran by conducting strikes on Iran’s nuclear amenities. Mr. Trump and Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth claimed these strikes obliterated Iran’s nuclear program, however the extent of the injury has been disputed.
Earlier than the June battle, Iran had cited the U.S. withdrawal from the earlier nuclear deal because it ramped up its enrichment program. It had began enriching uranium as much as 60% purity, a brief, technical step away from weapons-grade ranges, in response to the IAEA, which mentioned Iran was the one nation on the planet to counterpoint to that stage that wasn’t armed with the bomb.
The IAEA has known as on Iran for months to enhance transparency and cooperation with its inspectors, who proceed attempting to observe its enrichment program.
A primary spherical of oblique talks held in Oman earlier this month, which noticed the Arab nation’s international minister communicate individually with Iranian and U.S. negotiators, was described by Mr. Trump as “superb,” whereas Araghchi known as the assembly a “good begin.”
