Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 17, 2026
5 min readLast updated: February 17, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleUS and Iran hold indirect nuclear talks in Geneva amid military tensions, focusing on nuclear issues with potential for broader discussions.
By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Iran and the United States reached an understanding on the main "guiding principles" in a second round of indirect talks over their nuclear dispute on Tuesday, 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, from now on we will move based on those principles and enter the text of a potential agreement," Araqchi told Iranian media after the talks concluded in Geneva.
After the exchange of documents the two sides will decide on a date for a third round of negotiations, he said.
US BUILDS MILITARY PRESENCE IN MIDDLE EAST
The U.S. has sent a battle force to the Middle East to press Tehran to make concessions in the decades-long nuclear dispute and President Donald Trump has said "regime change" in Tehran may be the best thing that can happen.
Iranian state media reported earlier that Iran would temporarily shut part of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil supply route, as it held talks over its nuclear programme while Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Tuesday that any U.S. attempts to depose his government would fail.
Oil futures fell and the price of the benchmark Brent crude contract fell more than 1% after Araqchi's comments eased some tension over imminent supply disruption.
Speaking at a disarmament conference in Geneva after the talks, Araqchi said that a "new window of opportunity" had opened and that he hoped talks would lead to a "sustainable" solution that ensured the full recognition of Iran's legitimate rights.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner took part in the Geneva talks, which were being mediated by Oman, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters. The White House did not respond to emailed questions about the meeting.
Earlier, Trump said he himself would be involved "indirectly" in the Geneva talks and 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."
The U.S. joined Israel last June in bombing Iranian nuclear facilities.
EVEN THE STRONGEST CAN BE 'SLAPPED'
Since those strikes, Iran's Islamic rulers have been weakened by street protests, suppressed at a cost of thousands of lives, against a cost-of-living crisis driven in part by international sanctions that have strangled Iran's oil income.
Just after the talks started, Iranian media cited 86-year-old Khamenei as saying Washington could not force out his government. The republic has been ruled by clerics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
"The U.S. 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.
Washington has sought to expand the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues such as Iran's missile stockpile. Tehran 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 that their type and range have nothing to do with the United States.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday the success of the Geneva talks hinged on the U.S. not making unrealistic demands and on its seriousness on lifting the crippling sanctions on Iran.
U.S. B-2 BOMBERS STRUCK NUCLEAR TARGETS
Tehran and Washington were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks in June last year when Washington's ally Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran, and was then joined by U.S. B-2 bombers that struck nuclear targets. Tehran has since said it has halted uranium enrichment activity.
Tuesday's meeting took place at the residence of the Omani ambassador to the United Nations amid a heavy security presence. Some cars with Iranian diplomatic licence plates were visible outside.
The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of weeks of operations against Iran if Trump orders an attack, two U.S. officials told Reuters.
Just as the talks got under way in Geneva, Iranian state media reported that parts of the strategic Strait of Hormuz would close for a few hours 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.
The U.S. and Israel believe Iran aspires to build a nuclear weapon that could threaten Israel's existence. Iran says its nuclear programme is purely peaceful, even though it has enriched uranium far beyond the purity needed for power generation, and close to what is required for a bomb.
Iran has joined the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which guarantees countries the right to pursue civilian nuclear power in return for requiring them to forgo atomic weapons and cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Israel, which has not signed the NPT, neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons, under a decades-old ambiguity policy designed to deter surrounding enemies. Scholars believe it does.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Elwely Elwelly in Dubai, Humeyra Pamuk in Budapest, Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru, Steve Holland in Washington, Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Lincoln Feast, Sharon Singleton and Gareth Jones)
Military preparation involves the planning and readiness of armed forces to respond to potential conflicts or threats.
Uranium enrichment is the process of increasing the percentage of the isotope uranium-235 in uranium, which is necessary for nuclear power and weapons.
Sanctions relief refers to the lifting or easing of economic restrictions imposed on a country, often as part of a diplomatic agreement.
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