Iran foreign minister says progress made in nuclear talks with US

Iran and the United States reached an understanding on Tuesday on main “guiding principles” in talks aimed at resolving their nuclear dispute, but that does not mean a deal is imminent, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.

“Different ideas have been presented, these ideas have been seriously discussed, ultimately we’ve been able to reach a general agreement on some guiding principles,” Araqchi told Iranian media after the talks concluded in Geneva.

The indirect discussions between US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside Araqchi, were mediated by Oman.

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said in a social media post “much work is yet to be done” but Iran and the US were leaving with “clear next steps”.

Just as talks began on Tuesday, Iranian state media said Iran was temporarily shutting parts of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil supply route, due to “security precautions” while Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards conducted military drills there.

Tehran has in the past threatened to shut down the strait to commercial shipping if it is attacked, a move that would choke off a fifth of global oil flows and drive up crude prices.

Responding to comments by Trump that “regime change” in Iran might be the best course, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that any US attempts to depose his government would fail.

“The US President says their army is the world’s strongest, but the strongest army in the world can sometimes be slapped so hard it cannot get up,” he said, in comments published by Iranian media.

Speaking at a disarmament conference in Geneva after the talks, Araqchi said a “new window of opportunity” had opened and that he hoped discussions would lead to a “sustainable” solution that ensured the full recognition of Iran’s legitimate rights.

Earlier, Trump said he himself would be involved “indirectly” in the Geneva talks and that he believed Iran 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 said, referring to the US military’s stealth bomber jets.

The US has sought to expand the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues such as Iran’s missile stockpile. Iran says it is willing only to discuss curbs on its nuclear programme, in exchange for sanctions relief, and that it will not give up uranium enrichment completely or discuss its missile programme.

Khamenei reiterated Iran’s position that its formidable missile stockpile is non-negotiable and missile type and range have nothing to do with the United States.

Tehran and Washington were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks last June when Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran, and was then joined by American B-2 bombers that struck nuclear targets. Tehran has since said it has halted uranium enrichment activity.