Iran’s Foreign Minister has arrived in Geneva ahead of a second round of negotiations with the United States, Iranian state television said Monday (February 16, 2026), as Washington keeps up pressure on the Islamic republic.

According to Tehran, “indirect” Iran-U.S. nuclear talks mediated by Oman will be held on Tuesday (February 17, 2026), although Washington has previously pushed for other topics to be discussed including Iran’s ballistic missiles and support for regional proxies.

Tehran and Washington restarted negotiations this month after previous talks collapsed when Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran last June.

Considerable uncertainty surrounds the fate of Iran’s stockpile of more than 400 kilogrammes of 60-percent enriched uranium that was last seen by nuclear watchdog inspectors in June.

“The Foreign Minister has arrived in Geneva at the head of a diplomatic and expert delegation to take part in the second round of nuclear negotiation,” Iran’s state-run IRIB wrote on its Telegram channel.

During his visit to Geneva, Abbas Araghchi is expected to hold talks with his Swiss and Omani counterparts as well as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, and other international officials, Iran’s foreign ministry said.

Washington has dispatched Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, the White House confirmed on Sunday (February 15, 2026).

The latest talks follow repeated threats from Trump of military action against Tehran, first over Iran’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protests, and then more recently over the country’s nuclear programme.

The West fears the programme is aimed at making a bomb, which Tehran denies.

On Friday (February 13, 2026), Mr. Trump said 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 to ratchet up military pressure.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister told the BBC that Tehran would consider compromises on its uranium stockpile if Washington lifts sanctions that have crippled the Islamic republic’s economy.

“If we see the sincerity on their [American] part, I am sure we will be on a road to have an agreement,” said Majid Takht-Ravanchi.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that any deal must involve the removal of all enriched uranium from Iran as well as Tehran’s ability to enrich more.

“There should be no enrichment capability… dismantle the equipment and the infrastructure that allows you to enrich in the first place,” he said during a speech in Jerusalem.

‘Viable’ deal

On February 6, Mr. Araghchi led the Iranian delegation in indirect talks with Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner in Muscat.

Switzerland has played a key role in diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States for decades.

It has represented U.S. interests in Iran since Washington broke off relations with Tehran after the 1980 hostage crisis, a year after the Iranian revolution.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for economic diplomacy Hamid Ghanbari said Tehran was seeking a deal with the United States that would generate economic benefits for both countries, particularly in sectors such as aviation, mining and oil and gas, the Fars news agency reported.

“For the agreement to be viable, it is essential that the United States also be able to benefit from it in areas with strong and rapid economic return potential,” he was quoted as saying.

Iran’s Foreign Minister on Sunday (November 16, 2025) said that Tehran is no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country.

Answering a question from an Associated Press journalist visiting Iran, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi offered the most direct response yet from the Iranian government regarding its nuclear program following Israel and the United States’ bombing its enrichment sites in June.

“There is no undeclared nuclear enrichment in Iran. All of our facilities are under the safeguards and monitoring” of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mr. Araghchi said. “There is no enrichment right now because our enrichment facilities have been attacked.”

Iran’s government issued a three-day visa for the AP reporter to attend a summit alongside other journalists from major British outlets and other media.

Iran said on Saturday (October 18, 2025) that it was no longer bound by restrictions on its nuclear programme as a landmark 10-year deal between it and world powers expired, though Tehran reiterated its “commitment to diplomacy”.

The 2015 deal — signed in Vienna by Iran, China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — saw the lifting of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear programme. But the pact had already been in tatters after Washington unilaterally withdrew during President Donald Trump’s first term, with Iran later pulling back from its commitments.

The reimposition of U.N. sanctions in September at the urging of three of the deal’s European signatories rendered the accord effectively moot. From now on, “all of the provisions [of the deal], including the restrictions on the Iranian nuclear programme and the related mechanisms are considered terminated”, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on the day of the pact’s expiration. “Iran firmly expresses its commitment to diplomacy,” it added.

Western powers have long accused Iran of secretly seeking nuclear weapons — something it has repeatedly denied, insisting its nuclear programme is solely for civilian purposes such as energy production.

The deal’s “termination day” was set for October 18, 2025, exactly 10 years after it was enshrined in the U.N.’s Security Council Resolution 2231.

The accord capped Iran’s uranium enrichment at 3.67% in exchange for sanctions relief and provided for strict supervision of its nuclear activities by the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). But Washington left the deal in 2018 and reinstated sanctions, after which Tehran began stepping up its nuclear programme.

According to the IAEA, Iran is the only country without a nuclear weapons programme to enrich uranium to 60%. That is close to the threshold of 90% required for a bomb, and well above the level needed for civilian nuclear use.

Irresponsible actions

In July, Iran suspended cooperation with the IAEA following the war with Israel, with Tehran pointing to the agency’s failure to condemn Israeli and U.S. strikes on its nuclear facilities.

The unprecedented bombing campaign by Israel and the retaliation by Iran during the 12-day war derailed ongoing nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington. At the initiative of France, Britain and Germany, widespread U.N. sanctions against Iran returned into force in late September for the first time in a decade.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a letter addressed to the United Nations on Saturday (October 18, 2025) that the expiration of the 2015 deal renders the sanctions “null and void”.

Britain, France and Germany accuse Iran of not cooperating with the IAEA and would like it to return to negotiations with the United States.

“Iran’s efforts to revive the exchanges [with the IAEA] that led to the agreement in Cairo were also sabotaged by the irresponsible actions of the three European countries,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in Saturday’s (October 18) statement, referring to a recent framework to resume cooperation.