US and Iran hold pivotal nuclear talks in Geneva amid heightened tensions
LONDON -- Officials from Iran and the United States opened high-stakes negotiations in Geneva on Thursday, a third round of nuclear talks that are arriving amid heightened tensions and that could prove pivotal in President Donald Trump’s decision about whether to order a military intervention.
The White House previously said it would accept nothing short of a full stop for Tehran's uranium enrichment efforts. Trump in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night warned that Iran sought to restart that program after the United States "obliterated" it in strikes on the nation in June.
The White House in recent weeks ordered a major U.S. military buildup in the Middle East, as Trump has weighed options for possible strikes against Iran. The administration has not detailed its plans, nor has it provided a specific rationale for potential strikes.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Iran poses a "very great threat" to the United States, but added that the president would prefer to deal with Tehran through diplomacy. He also said Tehran appeared to be attempting to restart its nuclear program.
"You can see them always trying to rebuild elements of it," Rubio told reporters during his trip to St. Kitts and Nevis. "They’re not enriching right now, but they’re trying to get to the point where they ultimately can."
The White House's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are representing the United States.
Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said midday that the talks had broken off and would "resume later today."
"We’ve been exchanging creative and positive ideas in Geneva today," al-Busaidi, who has been mediating the indirect talks, wrote in a post on social media. "We hope to make more progress."
Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said prior to the meeting that his country sought to stress "that the success of the negotiations depends on the seriousness of the other side and its avoidance of contradictory behavior and positions," according to Iran.
Questions remained about the current state of Iran's nuclear program, despite Trump saying it had been "obliterated" in June. Senior Israeli officials told ABC News in July that some enriched uranium may have survived the powerful U.S. strikes. Washington maintains that Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons, a claim that Tehran has denied.
Araghchi on Tuesday appeared to agree with the White House's efforts to stop it from building a nuclear weapon, but stopped short of saying there would be no future enrichment of any kind.
"Our fundamental convictions are crystal clear: Iran will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon; neither will we Iranians ever forgo our right to harness the dividends of peaceful nuclear technology for our people," Araghchi said in a social media post.
Witkoff in an interview that aired Sunday on Fox News said that Tehran was "probably a week away from having industrial-grade, bomb-making material, and that's really dangerous."
Witkoff and Kushner have been given an extensive remit by the White House, which has also tapped them as lead negotiators for other high-stakes talks, including those related to Russia's war against Ukraine.
That approach has drawn some criticism, including from Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican of North Carolina, who said on Wednesday that it was "suspect" that "the same two people" would have the time to effectively manage the workload.
"It's just not the way to project steady, strong leadership which the world needs from the United States on these very dangerous hot spots," Tillis said.
Iran has a "positive outlook" on the talks and hopes to "move beyond this 'neither war nor peace' situation," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in public remarks in Farsi on Wednesday in Sari, Iran.
"Hopefully, we can move beyond this 'neither war nor peace' situation," he added. "If that happens, we will then be able to remove obstacles from our path much more easily."
