Iran and the US made “important progress” in talks in Switzerland on Thursday (February 26, 2026), mediators mentioned, after the newest spherical of negotiations to avert a struggle between the longtime foes, and agreed to additional discussions subsequent week in Austria.
The Oman-mediated negotiations observe repeated threats from U.S. President Donald Trump to strike Iran, with Mr. Trump final Thursday giving Tehran 15 days to achieve a deal.
Whereas Iran has insisted the discussions focus solely on its nuclear programme, the U.S. desires Tehran’s missile programme and its help for militant teams within the area curtailed.
Iranian International Minister Abbas Araghchi informed state TV that the talks “made superb progress and entered into the weather of an settlement very severely, each within the nuclear subject and within the sanctions subject”.
He mentioned the following spherical would happen in “maybe lower than every week”, with technical talks on the UN’s nuclear company to start in Vienna on Monday.
Omani International Minister Badr Albusaidi additionally introduced technical discussions had been to be held “subsequent week in Vienna”.
“We’ve completed the day after important progress within the negotiation between the US and Iran,” he mentioned in a put up on X.
The negotiations came about because the US continued its largest navy buildup within the Center East in a long time.
The US and Iranian delegations held a morning session on the Omani ambassador’s residence amid tight safety, earlier than pausing to carry consultations with their respective capitals.
A second session started round 1700 GMT.
Albusaidi mentioned after the morning session that the 2 sides expressed “unprecedented openness to new and artistic concepts and options”.
UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi joined the negotiations, a supply near the talks informed AFP, with an Iranian state TV journalist additionally reporting he was attending.
Dramatic buildup
The Wall Road Journal reported on Thursday that Trump’s negotiating crew would demand that Iran dismantle its three primary nuclear websites and hand over all its remaining enriched uranium to the US.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian insisted forward of the talks that the Islamic republic was not “in any respect” looking for a nuclear weapon.
As a part of the dramatic US buildup, the usGerald R. Ford, the world’s largest plane service, despatched to the Mediterranean this week, left a naval base in Crete on Thursday, an AFP photographer mentioned.
Washington presently has greater than a dozen warships within the Center East: one plane service — the usAbraham Lincoln — 9 destroyers and three different fight ships.
It’s uncommon for there to be two US plane carriers, which carry dozens of warplanes and are crewed by hundreds of sailors, within the area.
The developments observe large protests in Iran throughout which, rights teams say, hundreds of demonstrators had been killed.
‘Sinister nuclear ambitions’
In his State of the Union handle on Tuesday, Trump accused Iran of “pursuing sinister nuclear ambitions”, although Tehran has at all times insisted its programme is for civilian functions.
Trump additionally claimed Tehran had “already developed missiles that may threaten Europe and our bases abroad, they usually’re working to construct missiles that may quickly attain the US of America”.
The Iranian international ministry known as these claims “huge lies”.
The utmost vary of Iran’s missiles is 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles), in response to what Tehran has publicly disclosed.
Nonetheless, the US Congressional Analysis Service estimates they high out at about 3,000 kilometres — lower than a 3rd of the gap to the continental United States.
Trump’s State of the Union accusations in Congress had been delivered in the identical discussion board through which then-president George W. Bush laid out the case for the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
‘Folks would undergo’
Araghchi, who led the Iranian delegation on the talks, had known as them “a historic alternative”, including {that a} deal was “inside attain”.
The US was represented by envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who’s married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
The 2 nations held talks earlier this month in Oman, then gathered for a second spherical in Geneva final week.
A earlier try at negotiations collapsed when Israel launched shock strikes on Iran final June, starting a 12-day struggle that Washington briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear websites.
In January, Tehran launched a mass crackdown on nationwide protests that posed one of many best challenges to the Islamic republic since its inception.
Protests have since resumed round Iranian universities.
Tehran residents who spoke to AFP had been divided on what renewed battle would imply for them.
“There can be famine and other people would undergo rather a lot. Individuals are struggling now, however a minimum of with struggle, our destiny may be clear,” 60-year-old homemaker Tayebeh mentioned.
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Printed – February 27, 2026 03:08 am IST
