Iran and the United States reached an understanding yesterday on main ‘guiding principles’ in talks aimed at resolving their long-standing nuclear dispute, but that does not mean a deal is imminent, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.
Oil futures fell and the benchmark Brent crude contract tumbled more than one per cent after Araqchi’s comments, which helped ease fears of conflict in the region, where the US has deployed a battle force to press Tehran for concessions.
“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,” Araqchi told Iranian media after the talks concluded in Geneva.
The indirect discussions between US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside Araqchi, were mediated by Oman. The White House did not respond to emailed questions about the meeting.
Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi said in a post on X ‘much work is yet to be done’ but Iran and the US were leaving with ‘clear next steps’.
Just as talks began yesterday, Iranian state media said Iran would temporarily shut part of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil supply route, due to ‘security precautions’ while Iran’s 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.
Responding to comments by Trump that ‘regime change’ in Iran might be the best course, the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, warned that any US attempts to depose his government would fail.
“The US 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.
Speaking at a disarmament conference in Geneva after the talks, Araqchi said that a ‘new window of opportunity’ had opened and that he hoped discussions would lead to a ‘sustainable’ solution that ensured the full recognition of Iran’s legitimate rights.
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.”
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