By Guy Birchall
Contributing Writer
Iran said that some general agreements had been reached during mediated talks with the United States in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday.
Following the conclusion of the negotiations, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the two sides “were able to reach a general understanding on a set of guiding principles” and that they would now proceed based on those principles, according to a translation of his Tuesday post on Telegram.
“This does not mean that we can reach an agreement quickly, but at least the process has begun. We hope this can be completed as soon as possible and are prepared to devote sufficient time to it. However, when it comes to drafting the text, the work becomes more detailed and complex,” he added, noting that the progress made at this meeting was “good” compared with the last.
No specific timeframe has been set out, Araghchi said, but added, “We now have a clearer picture of what needs to be done and what steps should follow.”
Araghchi also stated that Iran remained “fully prepared to defend itself against any threat or aggressive action” and that the consequences of such action “will not be limited to Iran’s borders.”
He further stated that Iran would continue its negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying that the role the United Nations nuclear watchdog could play in Iran-U.S. relations was discussed.
Araghchi met with IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi in Geneva on Monday. Grossi said he had “in-depth technical discussions” with Araghchi in preparation for negotiations with the U.S. side.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog had on June 12 declared Iran noncompliant and in breach of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Iran formally suspended its cooperation with the IAEA following U.S. strikes on the country’s nuclear facilities on June 22, conducted under the codename Operation Midnight Hammer.
U.S. officials conducted mediated talks in the Omani Embassy in Geneva on Iran’s nuclear program after Iranian representatives earlier met with officials from the Arab state in the same setting.
Oman hosted the first round of indirect talks between Washington and Tehran earlier this month, which concluded without an agreement.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
As the talks took place in Geneva, the Islamic Republic held military drills in the Strait of Hormuz.
While diplomacy was the order of the day in Switzerland, the military escalation in the Middle East continued, with Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reporting that parts of the vital oil export route would close for a few hours due to “security precautions” while Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards conduct military drills.
The Islamic Republic 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 prices.
These drills followed a previous drill on Monday, which the state-affiliated Islamic Republic News Agency said was designed to test Iran’s intelligence and operational capabilities in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
This was preceded by U.S. President Donald Trump’s ordering an additional aircraft carrier to the region.
Defiant Ayatollah
The theocracy’s head of state, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, fired off a series of posts on X as the Geneva talks were in progress, targeted at the United States.
“The U.S. president keeps saying that they have the strongest military force in the world,” he wrote on Tuesday. “The strongest military force in the world may at times be struck so hard that it cannot get up again.”
Khamenei wrote in a separate post on X: “The Americans constantly say that they’ve sent a warship toward Iran. Of course, a warship is a dangerous piece of military hardware.
“However, more dangerous than that warship is the weapon that can send that warship to the bottom of the sea.”
He went on to say in another post that a sign of the “decline of the corrupt, oppressive U.S. empire is its irrationality, such as interfering in our own country’s internal affairs.”
“They say, ‘Limit your missiles to this range.’ What’s that to do with you?! Without deterrent weaponry, a country will be crushed by the enemy,” Khamenei said, adding that Iran’s nuclear industry was “not for war.”
Khamenei’s posts followed comments from Trump, who said on Monday that he would be indirectly involved in this second round of nuclear talks.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said the talks are “very important” and that he expects Iran to come into an agreement that would restrain its nuclear weapons program.
“We’ll see what can happen, but typically Iran is a very tough negotiator,” the president said. “I think they want to make a deal. I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal.”
Aldgra Fredley and Reuters contributed to this report.
