The United States and Iran are set to hold a second round of talks on Iran's nuclear program in Geneva today, at a time when Washington is ramping up its military presence in the Middle East and Tehran is holding major naval exercises.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to force Iran to accept limits on its nuclear program. Iran has said it will respond with its own attack. Trump has also threatened Iran over its crackdown on widespread protests in the country.
The first round of talks was held on February 6 in Oman and were indirect. It is not clear what the arrangements are for today's round of talks in Geneva, the Associated Press reports.
Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner traveled to Geneva for a new round of negotiations.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a visit to Budapest yesterday that the US hopes to reach an agreement with Iran despite the difficulties.
"I don't want to prejudge these talks. The president always prefers peaceful solutions and negotiated solutions," Rubio said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is leading the Iranian side in the negotiations, met with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, in Geneva yesterday.
Aragachi said he would also meet with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busadi, the mediator in the Iran-US negotiations.
"I am in Geneva with realistic ideas on how to reach a fair agreement. What is not on the table is submission to threats," Aragachi wrote yesterday on the social network X.
In statements to reporters last night on the presidential plane, en route to Washington, Trump said that he would be indirectly involved in the US-Iranian talks and assessed that they would be "very important" and that we would see what would happen.
"I would say they (the Iranians) are bad negotiators because we could have had a deal instead of sending B2s to destroy their nuclear capability, and we had to send B2s. I hope they will be more reasonable," Trump said, referring to the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities last June, when the US joined a 12-day Israeli attack on the country.
Trump added that he "thinks (the Iranians) want to make a deal."
"I don't believe they want the consequences of not making a deal," Trump said.
The US will also host talks between Russian and Ukrainian envoys in Geneva today and tomorrow, days before the fourth anniversary of the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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