- Indirect negotiations between the US and Iran on the nuclear program began in Geneva.
- The US demands an end to Iran’s uranium enrichment and threatens military intervention.
- Iran insists on the peaceful nature of its nuclear program and demands the lifting of sanctions.
Another round of indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran on its nuclear program began in Geneva on Thursday morning. US President Donald Trump is urging Tehran to make an agreement with the US or face a military strike. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AP agency.
The American side is again represented by Trump’s special envoys at the third consecutive round of negotiations mediated by Oman Steve Witkoff a Jared Kushner. The Iranian delegation is headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Arákčí. The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency will probably also be present Rafael Grossi.
On Thursday, before the start of the meetings, the spokesman of the Arákci Department announced that their topic would be exclusively the Iranian nuclear program. But Iran will also advocate for the lifting of sanctions and for its right “to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.”
Both countries signal that they are ready for war if talks fail. Tehran would consider even a limited attack by the United States an act of aggression and respond accordingly. He would consider American military bases in the Middle East as legitimate targets and also threatened to attack Israel.
Washington wants the Islamic country to completely stop enriching uranium. In his State of the Union address to both houses of the US Congress on Tuesday night, Trump reiterated that he will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. “They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard from them yet: ‘We will never have nuclear weapons,'” he said.
At the same time, Tehran has long rejected the effort to obtain an atomic weapon and claims that its nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes. Arácchi said this week that Iran would never develop a nuclear weapon under any circumstances, but that it would not give up its right to a civilian nuclear program.
However, according to the US president, Iranian officials are “again pursuing their sinister nuclear ambitions at this time” and are also allegedly developing missiles capable of directly hitting the US. Iran described these claims as lies.
The head of the White House, in an effort to force Tehran to accede to the nuclear agreement, gathered in the Middle East, according to the AP agency, the largest military force in recent decades. He deployed a large number of vessels to the area, including two aircraft carriers, fighters and other support aircraft.
