‘Progress’ in nuclear talks between Iran and the US, but ‘a lot of details’ still to discuss

Iranian military personnel take part in an exercise titled ‘Smart Control of the Strait of Hormuz’, launched by the Naval Forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

• Iran and the US reached “guiding principles” in talks aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute.
• A US official said Iran would make detailed proposals in the next two weeks.
• Iran temporarily shut parts of the Strait of Hormuz while Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards conducted military drills.

Iran and the United States reached an understanding on Tuesday on the main “guiding principles” in talks aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute, but that does not mean a deal is imminent, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.

Oil futures fell and the benchmark Brent crude contract tumbled more than 1% after Araqchi’s comments, which helped ease fears of conflict in the region, where the US has deployed naval forces to press Iran for concessions.

“Different ideas have been presented, these ideas have been seriously discussed, ultimately we’ve been able to reach a general agreement on some guiding principles,” Araqchi told Iranian media after the talks concluded in Geneva.

A US official said Iran would make detailed proposals in the next two weeks to close gaps in the nuclear talks.

“Progress was made, but there are still a lot of details to discuss,” said the official, who declined to be identified.

READ | Trump won’t be directly involved in ‘very important’ Iran nuclear talks

The indirect discussions between US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside Araqchi, were mediated by Oman.

The White House did not respond to emailed questions about the meeting.

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said in a social media post, “much work is yet to be done”, but Iran and the US were leaving with “clear next steps”.

Just as talks began on Tuesday, Iranian state media said Iran was temporarily shutting parts of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil supply route, due to “security precautions” while Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards conducted military drills there.

Later, state media said the strait had been shut down for a few hours, without making it clear if it had fully reopened.

Tehran has in the past threatened to shut down the strait to commercial shipping if it is attacked, a move that would choke off a fifth of global oil flows and drive up crude prices.

Responding to comments by Trump that “regime change” in Iran might be the best course, the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, warned that any US attempts to depose his government would fail.

“The US President says their army is the world’s strongest, but the strongest army in the world can sometimes be slapped so hard it cannot get up,” he said, in comments published by Iranian media.

Speaking at a disarmament conference in Geneva after the talks, Araqchi said a “new window of opportunity” had opened and that he hoped discussions would lead to a “sustainable” solution that ensured the full recognition of Iran’s legitimate rights.

Earlier, Trump said he himself would be involved “indirectly” in the Geneva talks and that he believed Iran wanted to make a deal.

“I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday.

“We could have had a deal instead of sending the B-2s in to knock out their nuclear potential. And we had to send the B-2s,” Trump said, referring to the US military’s stealth bomber jets.

Mock coffins representing serving and retired US military leadership are displayed along the route of a rally marking the 48th anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution during commemorations to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Iranian Revolution in Tehran, Iran.

Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

The US joined Israel last June in bombing Iranian nuclear facilities.

The US and Israel believe Iran aspires to build a nuclear weapon that could threaten Israel’s existence.

Iran says its nuclear programme is purely peaceful, even though it has enriched uranium far beyond the purity needed for power generation, and close to what is required for a bomb.

Since those strikes, Iran’s Islamic rulers have been weakened by street protests, suppressed at a cost of thousands of lives, against a cost-of-living crisis driven in part by international sanctions that have strangled Iran’s oil income.

The US has sought to expand the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues such as Iran’s missile stockpile.

Iranian military personnel take part in an exercise titled ‘Smart Control of the Strait of Hormuz’, launched by the Naval Forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and carried out in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

Press Office of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images

Iran says it is willing only to discuss curbs on its nuclear programme, in exchange for sanctions relief, and that it will not give up uranium enrichment completely or discuss its missile programme.

Khamenei reiterated Iran’s position that its formidable missile stockpile is non-negotiable and missile type and range have nothing to do with the US.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday the success of the Geneva talks hinged on the US not making unrealistic demands and in its seriousness on lifting the crippling sanctions on Iran.

Tehran and Washington were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks last June when Washington’s ally Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran, and was then joined by American B-2 bombers that struck nuclear targets.

Tehran has since said it has halted uranium enrichment activity.

Iran has joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which guarantees countries the right to pursue civilian nuclear power in return for requiring them to forgo atomic weapons and cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Israel, which has not signed the treaty, neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons, under a decades-old ambiguity policy designed to deter surrounding enemies.

Scholars believe it does.