U.S., Iran to hold new round of nuclear talks in Geneva this week, Swiss government says
GENEVA — Iran and the United States will hold a second round of talks over Tehran’s nuclear program next week, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said Saturday.
Oman, which welcomed the first round of indirect talks on Feb. 6, will host the talks in Geneva, the Swiss ministry said, without specifying which days.
After the first discussions, U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran that failure to reach an agreement with his administration would be “very traumatic.”
Similar talks last year broke down in June as Israel launched what became a 12-day war on Iran that included the U.S. bombing Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to agree to constrain its nuclear program. Iran has said it would respond with an attack of its own. Trump also has threatened Iran over its deadly crackdown on recent nationwide protests there.
Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another regional conflict.
Trump said Friday the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was being sent from the Caribbean to the Mideast to join other military assets the U.S. has built up in the region. He also said a change in power in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen.”
The indirect talks on Feb. 6 were between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. The top military commander in the Middle East was also present for the first time.
The Trump administration has maintained that Iran can have no uranium enrichment under any deal. Tehran says it won’t agree to that.
Iran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. However, its officials increasingly threaten to pursue a nuclear weapon. Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his nation is “ready for any kind of verification.” However, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has been unable for months to inspect and verify Iran’s nuclear stockpile.
Trump has suggested in recent weeks that his top priority is for Iran to scale back its nuclear program. Iran has said it wants talks to focus solely on the nuclear program.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with Trump in Washington this week, has pressed for any deal to include steps to neutralize Iran’s ballistic missile program and end its funding for proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
