Iran’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that a deal with the United States is “within reach” if diplomacy prevails, as the two sides prepare for renewed negotiations on Thursday in Geneva between U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and Iranian regime officials.
Washington and Tehran have participated in two rounds of Omani-mediated indirect nuclear talks this month so far, with the first meeting in Muscat and the second in the Swiss city.
“Pillared on the understandings forged in the previous round, Iran will resume talks with the U.S. in Geneva with a determination to achieve a fair and equitable deal—in the shortest possible time,” Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told state media earlier on Tuesday that the regime was “ready to reach an agreement as soon as possible” and that Tehran would do “whatever it takes to make this happen. We will enter the negotiating room in Geneva with complete honesty and good faith.”
However, Takht-Ravanchi added, according to Reuters, that “if there is an attack or aggression against Iran, we will respond according to our defense plans... A U.S. attack on Iran is a real gamble.”
The comments come amid a massive U.S. military buildup in the Middle East, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump prefers diplomacy as his first option but is prepared to use force if needed.
While both sides are pursuing the diplomatic path for now, senior Israeli and political officials assess that there will be no breakthrough in the nuclear negotiations, according to Israel’s Channel 12.
“It would be the surprise of the year if Iran agrees to a genuine diplomatic solution. If it bows to American demands, it would go against the entire nature of that regime,” an Israeli official told the news network, adding that “it would be no less surprising if the Americans agree to a deal that’s just smoke and mirrors.”
A senior Iranian official said on Sunday that Tehran is weighing a proposal to send half of its most highly enriched uranium abroad, dilute the remainder and join a regional enrichment consortium—an idea long floated in nuclear talks—in exchange for U.S. recognition of its right to peaceful nuclear enrichment and the lifting of economic sanctions.
Trump said at the State of the Union on Tuesday that Iran has not yet given up on its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
The president told the assembled members of Congress, Supreme Court, the U.S. military and his administration that the United States warned Iran not to attempt to rebuild its weapons programs after Operation Midnight Hammer in June.
“We wiped it out, and they want to start all over again, and are at this moment again, pursuing their sinister ambitions,” Trump said.
“We are in negotiations with them,” he said. “They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words, ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.’”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei accused Washington and Jerusalem on Tuesday of spreading “big lies” about Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, saying the Trump administration and what he called “war profiteers encircling it, particularly the genocidal Israeli regime,” were using Nazi-style propaganda tactics to mislead the public.
In a post on X, Baqaei said that the U.S. and Israel were engaged in a disinformation campaign against Iran, citing claims about the country’s recent unrest and military capabilities.
Trump, in his address to Congress, also accused the Iranian regime of killing “at least” 32,000 people during its crackdown on recent domestic protests.
“We stopped them from hanging a lot of them with the threat of serious violence,” Trump said. “But this is—some terrible people.”
Trump said his “preference” was to resolve issues with Iran through diplomacy, but that he will “never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon.”
The Pentagon has assembled a massive U.S. air and naval buildup in the Middle East, with two aircraft carrier strike groups and other warships, along with a large complement of U.S. combat and support aircraft, deployed to waters including the Arabian Sea and eastern Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, Iran has warned it will treat all American military assets in the Middle East as “legitimate targets” if attacked, as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff cautioned Trump that a military campaign against Tehran carries significant risks, according to N12. In addition to Gen. Dean Caine, Vice President JD Vance has also raised concerns internally about military entanglement, the Israeli broadcaster reported.
The warning comes as the U.S. currently maintains around 30,000–40,000 troops in the Middle East region, The New York Times reported, including at bases operating near Iran.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told lawmakers in recent weeks that Iranian missiles can reach about nine bases where U.S. forces are stationed. “They are all within range of a system comprising thousands of Iranian drones and short-range ballistic missiles threatening our force presence,” Rubio told lawmakers, according to The Wall Street Journal.
