Iran's foreign minister to join Geneva nuclear talks with the US
發佈日期: 2026-02-16 20:58
TVB News
Iran's top diplomat is expected to join his country's negotiating team for talks with the US over its nuclear programme.
Abbas Araghchi and his delegation will meet with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner as they try to close a deal that would prevent a potential US attack against Iran.
Abbas Araghchi has been Iran's main diplomatic face as Tehran tries to avoid a potential war with the US and Israel.
The Iranian foreign minister is leading a "diplomatic and specialised" delegation to Geneva for talks with US envoys and other officials on Iran's nuclear programme.
He is also expected to meet the foreign ministers of Switzerland and Oman, which is brokering the talks, and Rafael Grossi, chief of the United Nations' nuclear agency, the IAEA.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in Slovakia, said diplomacy remains the priority to solve the crisis even as Washington sends more military vessels to the region.
"We are postured in the region for one simple reason, and that is that we understand that there could be threats to our forces in the region," said Rubio. "We've seen them be threatened in the past, and we want to make sure that we have sufficient capacity to defend them, if God forbid that were to happen.
"But right now, we're talking about negotiations. We are focused on negotiations. That's what we're focused on. The president's made that clear. If that changes, it'll be obvious to everyone. And obviously, whatever the law requires us to do, we'll do."
Iran has said that it is ready for war, and any attack by the US would trigger a wider conflict in which Israel and US bases in the region would be under threat.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows about Iran's ballistic missile capabilities from last year's 12-day war.
He said he was skeptical about US-Iran talks and wants to not only remove any nuclear threat from Iran but also their ballistic missile stocks.
"I will not hide from you that I expressed my skepticism of any deal with Iran because, frankly, Iran is reliable on one thing, they lie and they cheat," he said.
Tehran insists that the talks focus only on its nuclear programme, even as protests against the Shia Islamic regime, such as these scenes in Toronto, Canada, continue around the world.
While Iran is willing to dilute its uranium stocks, it has refused to completely halt enrichment and is flat-out unwilling to discuss halting its ballistic missile programme.
