FILE - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, center, heads to the venue for talks between Iran and the U.S., in Muscat, Oman. AP
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 said the talks were “very good,” even as he made clear he wants much more from Tehran threatening that failure to reach an agreement with his administration would be “very traumatic.”
Oman's talks were described by Iranian officials as productive, and Tehran has expressed a willingness to negotiate and make compromises over parts of its nuclear program.
However, the US has expanded its demands beyond what Iran initially anticipated and signalling that future negotiations could address Iran’s ballistic missile program and support for proxy groups, not just nuclear issues
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.
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.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his nation is “ready for any kind of verification.”
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.
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.”
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