{"id":200629,"date":"2026-02-16T16:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/iran-fm-in-geneva-for-us-talks-as-guards-hold-drills-in-strait-of-hormuz-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T16:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:34:18","slug":"iran-fm-in-geneva-for-us-talks-as-guards-hold-drills-in-strait-of-hormuz-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/iran-fm-in-geneva-for-us-talks-as-guards-hold-drills-in-strait-of-hormuz-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran FM in Geneva for US talks, as Guards hold drills in Strait of Hormuz – Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran\u2019s top diplomat says he hopes to \u2018achieve a fair and equitable deal\u2019 in the high-stakes second round of talks with the US on Tuesday.<\/em>
US and Iran to hold nuclear talks in Geneva as Washington builds military pressure.
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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in Geneva for a high-stakes second round of nuclear talks with the United States aimed at reducing tensions and avert a new military confrontation that Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned could turn into a regional conflict<\/a>.
\u201cI am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal,\u201d Araghchi wrote on X on Monday. \u201cWhat is not on the table: submission before threats.\u201d
Iran and the US renewed negotiations earlier this month to tackle their \u2060decades-long dispute over Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme as US deploys warships, including a second aircraft carrier, to the region as mediators work to prevent a war.
Araghchi met with Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Monday, after saying his team of nuclear experts expected a \u201cdeep technical discussion\u201d.<\/p>\n

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has been calling for access to Iran\u2019s main nuclear facilities that were bombed by the US and Israel during the 12-day war in June. Tehran has said there might be a risk of radiation, so an official protocol is required to carry out the unprecedented task of inspecting highly enriched uranium ostensibly buried under the rubble.
Speaking to state-run IRNA news agency on Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the IAEA will play \u201can important role\u201d in upcoming mediated talks between Iran and the US. But he also renewed Tehran\u2019s criticism of Grossi for the director\u2019s refusal to condemn military strikes on Iranian nuclear sites that are protected under agency safeguards as part of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Araghchi also said he would meet his Omani counterpart, Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi, who mediated the first round of talks<\/a> between Iran and the US since the war earlier this month.
Iran has repeatedly emphasised that it will not agree to Washington\u2019s demand for zero nuclear enrichment, and considers its missile programme a \u201cred line\u201d that cannot be negotiated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the US continues to build up its military presence in the region, with President Donald Trump saying a change of power in Iran \u201cwould be the best thing that could happen\u201d and sending in a second aircraft carrier.
On Monday, Iran\u2019s state media reported that the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) began a series of military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow and strategic waterway in the Persian Gulf.
Intensive drills were being conducted by the Guards\u2019 naval forces under supervision of the head of the IRGC, according to state TV, after the US deployed a large naval force to the Gulf.
Trump is again likely to send his special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner to represent the White House in the Geneva talks. Brad Cooper, the most senior US military commander in the region, had unexpectedly joined the US delegation<\/a> during the Muscat talks on February 6.
The talks also come over a month after Iran\u2019s deadly crackdown against nationwide protests, with Iranian officials claiming \u201cterrorists\u201d and \u201crioters\u201d armed and funded by the US and Israel were behind the unrest.
The UN and international human rights organisations have blamed Iranian authorities for the widespread use of lethal force against peaceful protesters, which killed thousands, mainly on the nights of January 8 and 9.
But the hardliners in Tehran are more concerned about any potential concessions that could be given during upcoming talks with the US.
Addressing an open session on Monday, one of the most hardline lawmakers in Iran\u2019s parliament cautioned security chief Ali Larijani against giving inspection access to the IAEA befire ensuring Iran\u2019s territorial integrity, the security of nuclear sites and scientists, and use of peaceful nuclear energy for civilian purposes under the NPT.
\u201cWhen US warships have opened their arms to embrace Iranian missiles, US bases have opened arms to take our missiles, and the homes of Zionist military personnel are anticipating the sound of the air raid sirens, it is obvious that such conditions cannot be met at the moment,\u201d said Hamid Rasaei, a cleric close to the hardline Paydari (Steadfastness) faction.
In the other diplomatic track pursued in Switzerland on Tuesday, officials will be discussing ways of ending the Ukraine war, which is approaching the end of its fourth year after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in 2022.
But no immediate breakthrough appears in sight, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy telling the annual Munich Security Conference<\/a> on Saturday that Kyiv has \u201ctoo often\u201d been asked to make concessions.<\/p>\n

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source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran\u2019s top diplomat says he hopes to \u2018achieve a fair and equitable deal\u2019 in the high-stakes second round of talks with the US on Tuesday.US and Iran to hold nuclear talks in Geneva as Washington builds military pressure.ShareSaveIranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in Geneva for a high-stakes second round of nuclear talks with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":200630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-200629","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}