The world held its breath on Tuesday as Iranian and American negotiators sat down in Geneva for a second round of nuclear talks that could either ease months of dangerous tension or push the Middle East closer to the edge of war, according to Al Jazeera News.
US President Donald Trump, speaking aboard Air Force One on Monday, confirmed he would be part of the process, though not directly at the table. “I’ll be involved in those talks, indirectly,” Trump told reporters. “They’ll be very important. Iran is a very tough negotiator.”
But tough is precisely what these talks are. Washington wants Iran to completely stop enriching uranium on its own soil, a demand Tehran flatly rejects. Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful and will only agree to limit it in exchange for sanctions relief. Iranian missiles, another US concern, are completely off the table as far as Tehran is concerned.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Geneva with a defiant but open spirit. “I am here with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal,” he wrote on social media. He added pointedly, “What is not on the table: submission before threats.”
Shadows from the past hang heavily over Geneva. Just last June, the US joined Israel in a 12-day military assault on Iran, bombing three nuclear sites at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan and derailing earlier talks entirely. Now, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, is urgently demanding answers about 440 kilograms of highly-enriched uranium that went missing following those strikes.
While diplomats talk, soldiers prepare. America has deployed a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard launched military drills in the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint carrying one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. Iran has threatened to close it if attacked.
Despite all this, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Tehran reported genuine optimism. Iran’s delegation, he said, includes legal, technical, and economic experts, a sign that real concessions may be coming.
Peace and war, it seems, are both still possible.
