Iran’s top diplomat to attend 'indirect' talks with US in Geneva,
state-run IRNA news agency says
[February 16, 2026]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s top diplomat was traveling
Sunday from Tehran to Geneva, where the second round of nuclear
negotiations with the U.S. will take place, Iranian state media
reported.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his delegation left for the Swiss
city after the first round of indirect talks took place in Oman last
week. Oman will mediate the talks in Geneva, the IRNA state-run news
agency reported on its Telegram channel.
Similar talks last year broke down after Israel launched what became a
12-day war on Iran, that included the U.S. bombing Iranian nuclear
sites.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to
compel Iran to agree to constrain its nuclear program. Iran has said it
would respond with an attack of its own. Trump has also threatened Iran
over its deadly crackdown on recent nationwide protests.
Gulf Arab countries have warned that any attack could spiral into
another regional conflict.
The Trump administration has maintained that Iran can have no uranium
enrichment under any detail, which Tehran says it will not agree to.
Iran continues to insist that its nuclear program is for peaceful
purposes, but officials however have increasingly threatened to pursue a
nuclear weapon. Before the war in June, Iran has been enriching uranium
up to 60% purity, just a short technical step away from weapons-grade
levels.
Araghchi is also expected to meet with his Swiss and Omani counterparts,
as well as the director general of the U.N.’s atomic watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency.
Earlier on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington
remains interested in a diplomatic solution to ending its differences
with Tehran, and that President Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared
Kushner were currently traveling for the new round of talks.
Trump said Friday the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft
carrier, was being sent from the Caribbean to the Mideast to join other
military assets the U.S. has built up in the region. He also said a
change in power in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen.”
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A cleric and other people attend an annual rally marking 1979
Islamic Revolution in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP
Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Rubio said recent military deployments in the Middle East were a
protective measure aimed at shoring up the defenses of U.S.
facilities and interests. Iran has threatened to attack U.S. bases
in the region if Washington decides to strike. Tehran in June
attacked the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, though no American or
Qatari personnel were harmed.
“No one’s been able to do a successful deal with Iran, but we’re
gonna try,” said Rubio at a news conference after meeting with
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico in Bratislava. “We are focused
on negotiations.” Trump in recent weeks has suggested that his
priority is for Iran to scale back its nuclear program, while Iran
has said it wants talks to solely focus on the nuclear program. But
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who earlier this week met
with Trump in Washington, has been pressing for a deal that would
neutralize Iran’s ballistic missile program and end its funding for
proxy groups such as Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in
Lebanon.
The Israeli prime minister said in a speech Sunday that any deal
between the U.S. and Iran must make sure that “all enriched material
has to leave Iran.”
It remains unclear how much influence Netanyahu will have over
Trump’s policy on Iran. Trump initially threatened to take military
action over Iran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last
month, but then shifted to a pressure campaign in recent weeks to
try to get Tehran to make a deal over its nuclear program. ___
Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Areej Hazboun
in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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