US-Iran talks end with no deal but potential signs of progress

GENEVA, Feb 27: The United States and Iran made progress in talks over Tehran's nuclear program on Thursday, mediator Oman said, but hours of negotiation ended with no sign of a breakthrough that could avert potential US strikes amid a massive military buildup.

The two sides plan to resume negotiations soon after consultations in their countries' capitals, with technical-level discussions scheduled to take place next week in Vienna, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi said in a post on X after the day's meetings in Switzerland.

Badr Albusaidi will hold talks with US Vice President JD Vance and other US officials in Washington on Friday, MS NOW reported late on Thursday. Neither the White House nor Oman's embassy in Washington immediately responded to requests for comment.

Any substantial move toward an elusive agreement between longtime foes Washington and Tehran could reduce the imminent prospects for U.S President Donald Trump to carry out a threatened attack on Iran that many fear could escalate into a wider war.

But Thursday's indirect talks wrapped up without a deal, still leaving the region on edge.
The Omani minister's upbeat assessment followed indirect talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Geneva, with one session in the morning and the second in the afternoon.

"We have finished the day after significant progress in the negotiation between the United States and Iran," Badr Albusaidi said.

But with many analysts seeing the latest diplomacy as the last chance before Trump could decide to go to war, Badr Albusaidi provided no details and stopped short of saying the two sides had overcome their biggest stumbling blocks to a deal.

Describing the talks as some of the most serious that Iran has had with the US, Araqchi told Iranian state television: "We reached agreement on some issues, and there are differences regarding some other issues."

"It was decided that the next round of negotiations will take place soon, in less than a week," he said. The Iranians, he added, had clearly expressed their demand for lifting of US sanctions, which Washington has long insisted will only come after deep concessions from Tehran.

There was no immediate comment from the US negotiating team on the outcome of the talks. But Axios quoted a senior US official as saying the Geneva negotiations were "positive."

Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that in order to reach a deal, the United States will have to drop its "excessive demands", after the two sides held talks in Geneva.

In a phone call with Egypt's top diplomat Badr Abdelatty, Araghchi said "success in this path requires seriousness and realism from the other side and avoidance of any miscalculation and excessive demands."

Araghchi did not clarify what demands he was referring to, but Washington has pointed to Iran's ballistic missile programme and has repeatedly described Tehran's uranium enrichment capability as a red line.    �"REUTERS, AFP