February 17, 2026 | 05:20 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Iranian and U.S. representatives are scheduled to attend a second set of indirect negotiations mediated by Oman on Tuesday in Geneva to address Iran's nuclear program.
"I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X. "What is not on the table: submission before threats."
For the U.S. side, presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, were due to attend the Tuesday talks.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in Europe on Monday, said Washington hopes to reach an agreement with Tehran, despite the difficulties.
"I'm not going to prejudge these talks," Rubio said. "The president always prefers peaceful outcomes and negotiated outcomes to things."
What does the U.S. want from negotiations?
The U.S. has said it wants to limit Iran's nuclear program and ensure Tehran cannot develop nuclear weapons.
Trump, who said he would be "indirectly" involved in the Geneva talks, has threatened to take military action against Iran over a crackdown on anti-government protests. The U.S. president added that he believed Tehran 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 has said he believes a change of government in Iran would be the "best thing that could happen."
Washington has also sought to expand the talks to include Iran's missile stockpile.
What does Iran want from negotiations?
Iran has consistently said its nuclear program serves exclusively civilian, energy-production purposes and has refused to limit its enrichment of uranium. Tehran has, however, enriched uranium up to 60 percent purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels and far beyond the level needed for energy production.
For its part, Iran has said that any agreement with the U.S. needs to include easing of economic sanctions.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said Tehran could be open to compromise on the nuclear issue, but is looking for an easing of international sanctions led by the United States.
"The ball is in America's court. They have to prove they want to have a deal with us," Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC on Sunday. "If we see a sincerity on their part, I am sure that we will be on a road to have an agreement."
The Iranian government has been weakened in recent months by large street protests in which thousands of people were killed during a government crackdown.
Talks amid increasing military presence
Iran said that its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard started drills on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, the waterways through which 20 percent of the world's oil passes. Other live-fire Iranian military exercises are planned in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, according to EOS Risk Group.
Last week, Trump said the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, was being sent from the Caribbean Sea to the Mideast to join other U.S. military assets in the region, including the USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying guided-missile destroyers.
Gulf Arab nations have warned that any attack could spiral into another regional conflict in a Mideast still reeling from the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Previous talks halted by Israel-Iran war
The first round of indirect talks was held on February 6 in Oman. During those negotiations, it appeared that vehicles displaying the U.S. flag entered the venue only after Iranian officials had left.
Months of previous negotiations between the U.S. and Iran came to a halt in June when Israel launched a 12-day war against Iran. The U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear facilities during that war.
Read: Iran's Revolutionary Guards Launch Strait of Hormuz Drills
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