U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will attend a second ‘indirect’ talks with Iranian representatives over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme on Tuesday in Geneva.
The Iranian delegation is expected to be led by Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi in the talks mediated by Oman, Reuters reported.
Trump will be ‘involved indirectly’
Earlier, Trump had also confirmed the meeting and said that he would be involved “indirectly“ in the Geneva talks and that he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal.
“I would say they’re bad negotiators, because we could have had a deal instead of sending the B2s in to knock out their nuclear potential, and we had to send the B2s. I hope they’re going to be more reasonable,” Trump said on Monday.
“I think they want to make a deal. I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal.”
U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio, visiting Budapest, Hungary, said Monday that Washington hopes to achieve a deal with Iran, despite the difficulties. “I’m not going to prejudge these talks,” Rubio said. “The president always prefers peaceful outcomes and negotiated outcomes to things.”
What Iran said
Araghchi, who met with the head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency on Monday in Geneva, also expressed confidence about reaching an ‘equitable deal’.
“I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal. What is not on the table: submission before threats,” Araghchi wrote on X.
First US-Iran indirect talks
Earlier, the two sides had met for indirect talks in Oman on February 6, in which U.S. Central Command Admiral Brad Cooper attended in uniform.
Talks between the US and Iran have repeatedly stalled over Washington’s demand for a zero enrichment of uranium by Tehran. Iran, while rejecting the US demand, has reportedly agreed to a dilution of its existing uranium stockpile.
US military presence near Iran
The high-stakes indirect talks are taking place on the backdrop of a massive US military build up in the Middle East in the form of the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group.
Last week, Trump said the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was also being sent to the Middle East.
USS Ford was previously deployed in the Caribbean for the US operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January this year.
Iran holds military drill
On its part, Iran has also announced that its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard started a drill early Monday morning in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, waterways that are crucial international trade routes through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil passes.
