Senior Iranian and American officials held a second round of indirect nuclear talks in Switzerland on Tuesday under Omani mediation, amid US military deployments to the region and the high-stakes involvement of President Donald Trump in the negotiations.
The negotiations took place at the Omani ambassador's residence in Geneva, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff leading their respective delegations.
The talks followed an initial round held earlier this month in Muscat and were expected to delve deeper into the core disputes surrounding Iran's nuclear programme and sanctions relief, against the backdrop of US threats of possible military intervention.
Shortly before the second round began, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, a member of Iran’s negotiating team and deputy foreign minister for political affairs, signalled Tehran's guarded approach.
Speaking to Iranian state television, Takht-Ravanchi said Tehran was engaging with the US with "caution and vigilance", stressing that "we must not be stung from the same stone twice".
He added that any assumption Iran could be pressured into making concessions was a "pure illusion", amid renewed military threats from Washington.
Iranian officials have framed the Geneva round as more substantive than the Muscat meeting, which they described as a confidence-building exercise following the collapse of previous diplomatic efforts. Tehran maintains that lifting US sanctions remains its primary objective and has ruled out negotiations over its missile programme or regional alliances.
After the talks concluded, Araghchi said the negotiations had now entered the stage of preparing and drafting a potential agreement, describing the discussions as "much more serious" than the previous round and the atmosphere as more constructive.
He said the two sides had reached general agreement on a set of guiding principles that would form the basis for drafting a possible agreement text, while cautioning that this did not mean a swift deal was imminent.
“The work becomes more complex and precise when we move to drafting the text,” Araghchi said, adding that significant gaps still remain between the two sides and that narrowing them would require time.
Trump said on Monday that he would be involved "indirectly" in the Geneva talks and described them as highly significant.
"I’ll be involved in those talks, indirectly. And they’ll be very important," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he travelled back to Washington. "Iran is a very tough negotiator."
However, he suggested Tehran was motivated to reach an agreement this time. "I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal," he said.
Trump’s remarks come amid a visible US military build-up in the region. Washington has deployed a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf, with concerns that the US will strike Iran if the talks fail.
US officials have indicated that military options remain on the table, and two sources recently told Reuters that preparations are underway for potential operations that could last weeks if ordered by the president.
Iran, for its part, began military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz this week, a strategic waterway through which a significant portion of global oil exports passes. Regional governments have urged restraint and called for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis, knowing war could be disastrous for Gulf states.
Adding to the charged atmosphere, US Senator Lindsey Graham was in Israel on Monday, where he met senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Graham warned that failure of the talks should lead to immediate war against Iran's leadership.
"What would Germany look like if you killed Hitler? I wished somebody had tried successfully," Graham said when asked about Iran. When pressed on whether he was speaking about killing Iran’s supreme leader, he responded: "The ayatollah represents evil incarnate to me".
The remarks underscore a polarised political environment surrounding the negotiations, with some US lawmakers advocating for a harder line against Tehran and remaining sceptical about the negotiations.
The stakes are considerable - the US has long sought to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, echoing Israeli claims that Tehran’s enrichment activities could pose an existential threat. Iran, meanwhile, insists its nuclear programme is peaceful and legitimate.