Switzerland said Saturday that Oman would host talks between the United States and Iran in Geneva next week, with Washington pushing Tehran to make a deal to limit its nuclear programme.<\/p>\n
“Switzerland stands ready at all times to offer its good offices to facilitate dialogue between the United States and Iran,” a Swiss foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.<\/p>\n
On February 6, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held talks in Oman with US envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s influential son-in-law Jared Kushner.<\/p>\n
The talks were indirect, with the Omanis acting as mediators.<\/p>\n
Trump has recently focused his military threats on Tehran’s nuclear programme, which US forces struck last June during Israel’s unprecedented 12-day war with Iran.<\/p>\n
Trump said Friday that a change of government in Iran would be the “best thing that could happen”, as he sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East, ratcheting up military pressure on the Islamic republic.<\/p>\n
– Go-between –<\/p>\n
Switzerland has played a key role in diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States for decades.<\/p>\n
Renowned for its neutrality, Switzerland has been representing US interests in Iran since Washington broke off relations with Tehran after the 1980 hostage crisis, a year after the Iranian revolution.<\/p>\n
In its role as the so-called protecting power, Switzerland has for decades allowed the two feuding nations to maintain a minimum of diplomatic and consular relations.<\/p>\n
The Swiss embassy in Tehran handles all consular affairs between the United States and Iran, including passport requests, altering civil status and consular protection for US citizens in Iran.<\/p>\n
Under the protecting power mandate, “Switzerland can either offer to act as a go-between on its own initiative or can fulfil this function at the request of the parties concerned, provided that all those involved agree,” the foreign ministry says on its website.<\/p>\n
The United States will be holding separate talks, also in Geneva next week, between Russia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Moscow and Kyiv will hold US-brokered talks on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Swiss city, both countries have said, announcing the next leg in fraught negotiations seeking to end the four-year war.<\/p>\n
Trump is pushing to halt the conflict, but two previous rounds of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi have not yielded signs of a breakthrough.<\/p>\n
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