(LONDON) \u2014 Officials from Iran and the United States opened high-stakes negotiations in Geneva on Thursday, a third round of nuclear talks that are arriving amid heightened tensions and that could prove pivotal in President Donald Trump\u2019s decision about whether to order a military intervention.<\/p>\n
The White House previously said it would accept nothing short of a full stop for Tehran\u2019s uranium enrichment efforts. Trump in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night warned that Iran sought to restart that program after the United States \u201cobliterated\u201d it in strikes on the nation in June.<\/p>\n
The White House in recent weeks ordered a major U.S. military buildup in the Middle East, as Trump has weighed options for possible strikes against Iran.<\/p>\n
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Iran poses a \u201cvery great threat\u201d to the United States, but added that the president would prefer to deal with Tehran through diplomacy. He also said Tehran appeared to be attempting to restart its nuclear program.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see them always trying to rebuild elements of it,\u201d Rubio told reporters during his trip to St. Kitts and Nevis. \u201cThey\u2019re not enriching right now, but they\u2019re trying to get to the point where they ultimately can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials from Oman are facilitating the indirect talks in Switzerland. The White House\u2019s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner are representing the United States.<\/p>\n
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said early on Thursday that Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister, arrived in Switzerland on Wednesday evening and met with Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, his Omani counterpart.<\/p>\n
Araghchi during that meeting \u201cstressed that the success of the negotiations depends on the seriousness of the other side and its avoidance of contradictory behavior and positions,\u201d according to Iran. <\/p>\n
Questions remained about the current state of Iran\u2019s nuclear program, despite Trump saying it had been \u201cobliterated\u201d in June. Senior Israeli officials told ABC News in July that some enriched uranium may have survived the powerful U.S. strikes. Washington maintains that Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons, a claim that Tehran has denied.<\/p>\n
Araghchi on Tuesday appeared to agree with the White House\u2019s efforts to stop it from building a nuclear weapon, but stopped short of saying there would be no future enrichment of any kind.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur fundamental convictions are crystal clear: Iran will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon; neither will we Iranians ever forgo our right to harness the dividends of peaceful nuclear technology for our people,\u201d Araghchi said in a social media post.<\/p>\n
Witkoff in an interview that aired Sunday on Fox News said that Tehran was \u201cprobably a week away from having industrial-grade, bomb-making material, and that\u2019s really dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Witkoff and Kushner have been given an extensive remit by the White House, which has also tapped them as lead negotiators for other high-stakes talks, including those related to Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n
That approach has drawn some criticism, including from Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican of North Carolina, who said on Wednesday that it was \u201csuspect\u201d that \u201cthe same two people\u201d would have the time to effectively manage the workload.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just not the way to project steady, strong leadership which the world needs from the United States on these very dangerous hot spots,\u201d Tillis said.<\/p>\n
Iran has a \u201cpositive outlook\u201d on the talks and hopes to \u201cmove beyond this \u2018neither war nor peace\u2019 situation,\u201d Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in public remarks in Farsi on Wednesday in Sari, Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, we can move beyond this \u2018neither war nor peace\u2019 situation,\u201d he added. \u201cIf that happens, we will then be able to remove obstacles from our path much more easily.\u201d<\/p>\n
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