U.S. and Iran Kick Off Nuclear Talks in Geneva amid Fears of Military Conflict

The United States and Iran began the third round of their current cycle of indirect nuclear talks in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday, under the looming threat of U.S. military action and Iran’s belligerent threats to respond with attacks across the Middle East.

As with previous rounds in Geneva and Oman, Thursday’s negotiations are “indirect,” meaning the Omani foreign ministry is carrying messages between U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. 

Oman released photos on Thursday of its foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, sitting down in Geneva with Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

“We’ve been exchanging creative and positive ideas in Geneva today, and now both US and Iranian negotiators have adjourned for a break. We’ll resume later today. We hope to make more progress,” Busaidi said at midday local time.

Iranian state media said Araghchi presented the U.S. team with “initiatives that Iran believes would address U.S. claims on its peaceful nuclear program,” as a test of America’s “seriousness and commitment to a diplomatic resolution.”

Reports suggest, however, that Iran’s proposals sound as intransigent and unhelpful as all of its previous offerings, as the regime insists on “safeguarding its nuclear rights and securing effective sanctions relief.”

Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, even pulled out the moth-eaten talking point that Iran will never develop nuclear weapons – no matter how much uranium it enriches, far beyond any reasonable threshold for peaceful civilian use – because Ayatollah Ali Khamenei supposedly issued a “fatwa” (religious edict) years ago that forever bans Iran from building nuclear bombs.

The mythical “fatwa” is perhaps the most disingenuous of Iran’s talking points, and its appearance is generally a sign that the regime in Tehran is not serious about negotiations. Iran has never produced a shred of documentation for the fatwa despite years of demands and, even if it did, the idea that Ayatollah Khamenei’s word is rock-solid immutable law for the rest of eternity is laughable.

Iran also refuses to explain why it is so eager to refine uranium to near-weapons-grade levels, in defiance of crushing sanctions, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection demands, and U.S. military action to destroy its refinement centers. The regime insists that its dogged efforts to create bomb material that it will never use, because of the Ayatollah’s fatwa, is purely a matter of national “honor” and protecting Iran’s “right to enrich.”

Araghchi likewise insist that U.S. concerns about its ballistic missile program are misplaced because it has “capped” the range of its missiles at 2,000 kilometers (about 1240 miles) to ensure they are “for defense and deterrence, not as a global threat.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a press conference on Wednesday that Iran must provide stronger assurances, and verifiable evidence, that it will not seek to resume uranium enrichment or long-range ballistic missile development.

“Girst and foremost, after their nuclear program was obliterated, they were told not to try to restart it, and here they are.  You can see them always trying to rebuild elements of it.  They’re not enriching right now, but they’re trying to get to the point where they ultimately can,” Rubio said.

“Iran possesses a very large number of ballistic missiles, particularly short-range ballistic missiles that threaten the United States and our bases in the region and our partners in the region, and all of our bases in the UAE, in Qatar, in Bahrain.  And they also possess naval assets that threaten shipping and try to threaten the U.S. Navy,” he continued.

Rubio said the talks on Thursday would be “largely focused on the nuclear program,” but “it’s also important to remember that Iran refuses – refuses – to talk about ballistic missiles to us or to anyone, and that’s a big problem.”

In response to reporter questions, Rubio elaborated on President Trump’s statement, during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, that Iran is “working to build missiles that can reach the United States of America.”

“They are trying to achieve intercontinental ballistic missiles.  For example, you’ve seen them try to launch satellites into space,” Rubio said on Wednesday, repeating long-held suspicions that Iran’s “satellite launches” are actually tests of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology.

“You’ve seen them increasing the range of the missiles they have now, and clearly they are headed in the pathway to one day being able to develop weapons that could reach the continental U.S.  They already possess weapons that could reach much of Europe already now as we speak,” he said.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday that the “framework for a deal” could be reached in Geneva, if the U.S. “separates nuclear and non-nuclear issues.” This is simply diplomatic language for further Iranian intransigence – since, as noted above, Iran thinks the nuclear issue is already settled, and the U.S. should back down and lift sanctions without expecting any further concrete actions from Tehran.