Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has described the second round of indirect nuclear talks with the United States as a "good start" as negotiations concluded on Tuesday (17 February) at the Omani consulate in Geneva.
Araghchi led the Iranian delegation, while the U.S. team was headed by Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The delegations exchanged technical notes through Omani mediators, with Araghchi emphasising that “any dialogue requires refraining from threats and pressure. (Tehran) only discusses its nuclear issue… We do not discuss any other issue with the U.S.”
Speaking after the conclusion of the second round of nuclear negotiations in Geneva, Araghchi said: “The path for a deal has started,” noting that there are still topics for the two sides to work on.
He added, “I can say compared to the last round, we’ve had very serious discussions and there was a constructive atmosphere where we exchanged our point of view. Those ideas were discussed and we came to some agreements and some main principles. And based on those principles, we will eventually draft a document … We are hopeful we can achieve this. When we reach the stage of drafting a document, naturally the process will slow down.”
The talks, which lasted approximately four hours, involved experts in nuclear, legal and economic matters, media report.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told state media the Iranian delegation is committed to the talks and ready to remain in Geneva for several days or even weeks to finalise an agreement.
He emphasised that lifting sanctions is integral to any nuclear deal and described Iran’s approach as “good faith, completely serious and result-oriented.”
“There have been good developments compared to last round,” Araghchi said, adding that the two parties will work on drafting potential agreement documents and exchanging them.
“This does not mean that we will reach an agreement soon, but the path has started,” he concluded.
In a message delivered on the sidelines of the talks, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stressed that the negotiation process must remain genuine, warning that any U.S. attempts to dictate terms would undermine the process.
“If the U.S. comes up with fixed outcomes, then the process is not negotiation; it is just a position of the terms,” Khamenei said. The message underlined the importance of compromise and reciprocal negotiation, cautioning the Iranian team against accepting any imposed conditions.
Meanwhile, IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri warned that Iranian forces could close the strategic Strait of Hormuz “upon orders from the country’s senior leadership.”
The statement came during a large-scale naval exercise in the waterway linking the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Tangsiri said that weapons used under wartime conditions “would be entirely different” from those displayed in the ongoing exercises.
U.S. officials have yet to publicly comment on the outcome of the talks.
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Iranian civilian and military officials have pledged their obedience to the new leader, Ayatollah Seyed Mojtaba Khamenei, with President Masoud Pezeshkian saying his leadership “will herald a new era of dignity and authority for the Iranian nation.”.
Almost 2,000 people have been evacuated from Iran via Azerbaijan since conflict erupted in the Middle East.
Kazakhstan has evacuated more than 7,300 citizens from the Middle East since regional tensions escalated, using both air and land routes to bring nationals home while closely monitoring political developments and potential economic effects linked to rising oil prices.
Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is a hardline cleric with strong backing from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. His rise signals continuity in Tehran's anti-Western policies.
Trump says the United States "don’t need people that join wars after we’ve already won," targeting his criticism at UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Israel continues to fire missles at strategic sites in Iran and Gulf regions report more strikes from Iran.
Global oil prices surpassed $119 a barrel on Monday (9 March, 2026), an almost four year high, as the Middle East conflict rumbled on.
Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as supreme leader on Monday (9 March), signaling that hardliners remain firmly in charge, as the week-old U.S.-Israeli war with Iran pushed oil above $100 a barrel.
Entry and exit across the state border between Azerbaijan and Iran for all types of cargo vehicles, including those in transit, will resume on 9 March, according to a statement by the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan.
U.S. President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke by phone on Sunday as tensions between Washington and Westminster deepened over the conflict involving Iran. The call came less than a day after Trump criticised Britain’s response to U.S. strikes on Iranian targets.
Norwegian police are searching for a suspect after an explosion at the U.S. embassy in Oslo on 8 March caused minor damage but no injuries, in what authorities say may have been a deliberate attack linked to the Middle East crisis.
An explosion damaged a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liège early on Monday (9 March) in what authorities said was an antisemitic attack that caused damage but no injuries.
The Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers will meet on Monday to discuss a global rise in oil prices and a joint release of oil from emergency reserves coordinated by the International Energy Agency, the Financial Times reports.
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