{"id":13854,"date":"2026-02-20T08:32:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/13854\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T08:32:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:32:05","slug":"tracking-down-the-iran-talks-in-geneva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/13854\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracking down the Iran talks in Geneva"},"content":{"rendered":"

Previous <\/p>\n

Next <\/p>\n

\"Umbrella\"<\/p>\n

A member of the international press corps is waiting outside the residence of Oman\u2019s residence in Cologny, a village close to Geneva. <\/p>\n

Mark Henley <\/p>\n

\"Press<\/p>\n

The talks mobilised both the international and local press, much to the surprise of local residents who saw an eclectic mix of Chinese, Iranian, Americans and Arabs talking earnestly into cameras or telephones in Cologny, where the Oman’s residence is based. <\/p>\n

Mark Henley <\/p>\n

\"Selfie\"<\/p>\n

Chinese media using a smart phone to make a statement outside the Oman Mission to the United Nations in the village of Pregny-Chamb\u00e9sy, where it had been said that the Iranian – American talks would be being held that morning. <\/p>\n

Mark Henley <\/p>\n

\"Press<\/p>\n

A foreign car with a \u2018PERSIA\u2019 number plate driven by someone claiming to be part of the Iranian opposition media, passing the International press lined up at the side of the road, in the village of Pregny-Chamb\u00e9sy, opposite the Oman Mission to the United Nations. <\/p>\n

Mark Henley <\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/p>\n

The journalist and cameraman for the Iranian State TV channel IRIB are searching for the location for her “Stand-up” with the location of the meeting in the background. <\/p>\n

Mark Henley <\/p>\n

\"Checking<\/p>\n

Two women side by side, both are Iranian. The journalist on the left came to Geneva to report for IRIB, the Iranian State Television Channel, the woman in the red coat is a producer for the BBC. <\/p>\n

Mark Henley <\/p>\n

\"Press<\/p>\n

After an hour or so of waiting outside the Oman mission in Pregny-Chamb\u00e9sy and various TV anchors delivering statements, a chauffeur came out of a black car to whisper in a couple of ears that the talks weren\u2019t happening there at all. <\/p>\n

Mark Henley <\/p>\n

\"Stand<\/p>\n

The anchor for SKY News is making a statement in front of cameras outside the residence of the Omani Mission in Colgny. <\/p>\n

Mark Henley <\/p>\n

\"stand<\/p>\n

The IRIB Team finally found their spot and the journalist talks to the camera with the Lake and the Geneva UN Headquarters in the background. <\/p>\n

Mark Henley <\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Geneva police check the papers of Iranian protesters who placed themselves between the Geneva Intercontinental and the Palais des Nations to attract the attention of the international media, Wednesday 18 February 2026. <\/p>\n

Mark Henley <\/p>\n

\"Demonstration<\/p>\n

Most of Wednesday Iranian opposition figures staged demonstrations outside the Geneva UN Headquarters \u2013 with images of the son of the last Shah of Iran, as the potential next ruler of Iran. <\/p>\n

Mark Henley <\/p>\n

Geneva held\u00a0crucial talks on Iran on Tuesday.\u00a0These were covered in-depth\u00a0by\u00a0the\u00a0international and local press.\u00a0Mark Henely, a\u00a0Geneva-based photographer\u00a0was on the ground to\u00a0document the meetings.\u00a0But he told a whole other story\u00a0instead.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

This content was published on <\/p>\n

February 20, 2026 – 09:00\n<\/p>\n

\n Mark Henley, text and images <\/p>\n

\"Iran<\/p>\n

The Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his delegation arrives at the Conference on Disarmament, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, February 17, 2026. <\/p>\n

Mark Henley <\/p>\n

Henely\u00a0spent all of Tuesday\u00a0trying to document talks between Iran and the United States.\u00a0This sent him\u00a0\u2013 and\u00a0a cohort of journalists \u2013around Geneva\u00a0in search of\u00a0how to tell a story which happened\u00a0behind closed doors. Rather than come back empty handed,\u00a0Henely captured\u00a0how difficult it is to photograph history in the making.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Tuesday,\u00a0the United States and Iran began their second round of indirect talks in\u00a0the Swiss city. Oman\u00a0was\u00a0acting as the facilitator of the talks, focused on\u00a0the future\u00a0Iran\u2019s nuclear\u00a0programme.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

American envoys\u00a0Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff\u00a0wanted to\u00a0obtain commitments from Iran regarding its stockpile of enriched uranium. Israel not only wanted these nuclear raw materials to be moved to another\u00a0country but\u00a0also any infrastructure that could produce them to be dismantled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the Iranian side, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi\u00a0hoped\u00a0for rapid reciprocity,\u00a0in particular the lifting of US sanctions in exchange.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Araghchi, said after the talks that \u201cagreement was reached on general guiding principles\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As is often the case with\u00a0diplomatic\u00a0talks,\u00a0the press\u00a0is often\u00a0notified at the last moment\u00a0on\u00a0the location and exact content\u00a0of the discussions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The information was \u2013 it was not sure where it first came from, and what point it became definite \u2013 that the Iran meeting would happen at Oman\u2019s mission to the UN in the affluent village of Pregny-Chamb\u00e9sy. Almost everyone, international and local press alike, went there, much to the surprise of local residents.<\/p>\n

After an hour or so, and various TV anchors delivering statements, a chauffeur came out to whisper in a couple of ears that it wasn\u2019t happening there at all. Then rumours spread that it was actually at the Omani residence in Cologny, on the other side of the lake, for which there was no address listed anywhere.<\/p>\n

That was the beginning of mad chase\u00a0by\u00a0Henely\u00a0to pin down the delegations\u00a0and document the talks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Edited by Virginie Mangin\/Thomas Kern\/ac<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Previous Next A member of the international press corps is waiting outside the residence of Oman\u2019s residence in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[567,3368,3382,10061,65,461],"class_list":{"0":"post-13854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-geneva","8":"tag-beat-international-geneva","9":"tag-conflict","10":"tag-follow-ups","11":"tag-gallery","12":"tag-geneva","13":"tag-production-type-original"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}