Iran said it would present detailed proposals in the next two weeks to bridge differences in nuclear talks with the United States, a US official said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
"Progress has been made, but there are still many details to be discussed. "The Russians said they would come back in the next two weeks with detailed proposals to resolve some of the outstanding issues in our positions," said the official, who declined to be identified as he gave details of the talks held in Geneva today.
Reuters reports that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran and the United States reached agreement on major "guiding principles" in talks aimed at resolving their long-running nuclear dispute on Tuesday, but that does not mean a deal is on the horizon.
"Different ideas were presented, these ideas were seriously discussed, and in the end we managed to reach a general agreement on some guiding principles," Araqchi told Iranian media after the talks in Geneva ended.
Both sides have "clear next steps"
Indirect talks between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Arakchi were mediated by Oman. The White House did not respond to emailed questions about the meeting.
Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said in a post on the X network that "much work remains to be done," but that Iran and the US were leaving with "clear next steps."
As the talks began today, Iranian state media reported that Iran would temporarily close part of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil supply route, for "security measures" while Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards conduct military exercises there.
Tehran has previously threatened to close the strait to commercial shipping if attacked, a move that would cut off a fifth of the world's oil flows and raise crude prices.
Responding to Trump's comments that "regime change" in Iran could be the best solution, the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (86), warned that any American attempt to overthrow his government would fail.
"The US president says their army is the strongest in the world, but the strongest army in the world can sometimes receive such a slap that it cannot get up," Khamenei said, according to Iranian media.
Speaking at the Geneva Disarmament Conference after the talks, Araqchi said a "new window of opportunity" had opened and that he hoped the talks would lead to a "sustainable" solution that would ensure full recognition of Iran's legitimate rights.
Earlier, Trump said he himself would be "indirectly" involved in the talks in Geneva and that he believed Tehran wanted to reach a deal.
"I don't think they want the consequences of not making a deal. We could have made a deal instead of sending B-2s to destroy their nuclear capability. And we had to send B-2s," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday.
The United States joined Israel in bombing Iranian nuclear facilities last June. The United States and Israel believe Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons that could threaten Israel's survival. Iran says its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful, although it has enriched uranium far beyond the purity needed to generate electricity and close to that needed for a bomb.
Iran says it will only discuss its nuclear program
Since those coups, Iran's Islamic rulers have been weakened by street protests, which have been suppressed with thousands of lives lost, due to a cost-of-living crisis caused in part by international sanctions that have choked off Iran's oil revenues.
Washington has sought to broaden the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues such as Iran's missile arsenal. Tehran says it is only willing to discuss curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief and will not completely give up uranium enrichment or discuss its missile program.
Khamenei reiterated Iran's position that its powerful missile arsenal is a non-negotiable issue and that the type and range of the missiles have nothing to do with the United States.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday that the success of the Geneva talks depends on the United States not making unrealistic demands and on its seriousness in lifting crippling sanctions on Iran.
US B-2 bombers hit nuclear targets
Tehran and Washington were due to hold a sixth round of talks in June last year, when Washington's ally Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran, joined by US B-2 bombers targeting nuclear targets. Tehran has since said it has suspended its uranium enrichment activities.
Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which guarantees states the right to develop civilian nuclear energy, with the obligation to renounce atomic weapons and cooperate with the United Nations (UN) nuclear energy watchdog - the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Israel, which has not signed the NPT, neither confirms nor denies that it possesses nuclear weapons, in keeping with a decades-old policy of ambiguity designed to deter surrounding enemies. Scientists believe that Israel possesses nuclear weapons.
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