Iran says it's reached 'understanding' with U.S. on nuclear talks

by · UPI

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tuesday talks in Geneva with U.S. officials on Tehran's nuclear program had resulted in an understanding but that more work needed to be done.

"Agreement was reached on general guiding principles," Araghchi said. "The atmosphere in this round of negotiations was more constructive. Good progress had been made in comparison with the first meeting."

Omani intermediaries hosted the talks, which focused on having Iran scale back its nuclear program under the guidance of the U.N. nuclear weapons inspectorate, The Guardian reported.

"Both sides have positions that will take some time to get closer to each other," Araghchi added. "The path to an agreement has been started but that does not mean we can reach an agreement quickly."

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After the meeting with Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Iranian envoys offered to come back in two weeks with detailed proposals "to address some of the open gaps in our positions," a U.S. official told Axios.

Vice President JD Vance said that Trump drew a "red line" with Iran.

"Now, we would very much like, as the president has said, to resolve this through a conversation in a diplomatic negotiation, but the president has all options on the table," Vance told Fox News.

"And one thing about the negotiation ... in some ways it went well," he said. "They agreed to meet afterwards, but in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through."

Trump said Monday he would participate "indirectly" in the negotiations.

Speaking aboard Air Force One on Monday night, the president said the negotiations were very important and he believed Tehran wanted to reach a deal, saying the fallout of not doing so would be very bad news, referencing U.S. air and missile strikes on the country's nuclear facilities in June, following failed negotiations.

"I don't think they want the consequences of not making a deal. We could have had a deal instead of sending the B-2s [stealth bomber aircraft] in to knock out their nuclear potential. And we had to send the B-2s. I hope they're going to be more reasonable," said Trump, who acknowledged that they were tough to negotiate with.

Similar optimism for its own prospects emanated from the Iranian side on Monday with the foreign ministry in Tehran saying it believed the United States' position had shifted to "a more realistic one," regarding Iran's nuclear program.

Following a meeting in Geneva on Monday with International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Grossi on "technical matters," Araghchi said he was heading into the talks with "real ideas" to achieve a fair and just agreement, vowing Iran would not be coerced.

"What is not on the table: submission before threats," he wrote in a post on X.

On Friday, Trump announced he was dispatching a second carrier strike group, the USS Gerald Ford, to the region to join an already substantial U.S. naval armada in the Arabian Sea to ratchet up pressure on Tehran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and a deadly crackdown on protesters that began in late December.

Trump said he was deploying the world's largest carrier to join the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group sent last month because if Iran didn't "make a deal, we'll need it."

The Gerald Ford and its battleships and associated vessels, now deployed in the Caribbean, are expected to arrive in the Arabian Sea in three to four weeks.

Tuesday's negotiations pick up from talks in Oman on Feb. 6 where a U.S. team led by Witkoff and Kushner met with the Iranians led by Araghchi, although proceedings were mediated by Omani officials and the two sides did not talk face-to-face.

As well as agreement on curtailing Iran's enrichment of uranium, the Trump administration wants the talks to include its ballistic missile arsenal, a recent brutal crackdown on public protests and backing of regional proxies Hamas and Hezbollah.

Tehran has been pushing back, insisting it is only willing to discuss reining in its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

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