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Iranwire – The second round of talks between Iran and the United States, which began on Tuesday morning, February 17, in Geneva, has come to an end. The meeting, hosted at the Omani Embassy in Switzerland, lasted for about three hours.
Oman has long served as the main diplomatic “bridge” between Tehran and Washington. Because the two countries do not maintain formal diplomatic relations, Omani officials frequently step in to facilitate contact. Hosting the talks at the Omani embassy – instead of a UN venue – points to a deliberate effort to keep the discussions discreet and rooted in traditional back-channel diplomacy.
Although the meeting has ended, no official statement has been released outlining the outcome or any potential agreements reached. Iran was represented by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his delegation, while Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner once again led the U.S. team, as they did in previous rounds.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Foreign Minister, played a central role in negotiating the original 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA). On the U.S. side, the involvement of Jared Kushner – Donald Trump’s son-in-law – and Steve Witkoff, a close ally and businessman, suggests that the Trump administration is relying on a tight, trusted inner circle for these high-stakes talks, much like it did during the “Abraham Accords.”
Coinciding with this meeting, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he is being indirectly informed of the progress of these talks. He described this round of negotiations as “very important” for the future of relations between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Republic, also reacted to the negotiations in his speech today. He called pre-determining a specific outcome for the negotiations between Iran and the U.S. a “wrong and foolish act” and said: “If the goal of the talks is to dismantle the nuclear program, such a subject is fundamentally not up for negotiation.”
Ali Khamenei’s comments effectively lay down a “red line” for Iran’s negotiating team. By making it clear that dismantling the nuclear program is not up for discussion, he is sending a message to Washington that while Tehran might consider limits on certain activities or expanded monitoring in return for sanctions relief, a complete dismantlement of its nuclear infrastructure is off the table. This kind of “resistance” rhetoric is also directed inward, reassuring hardliners at home that the talks do not amount to surrender.
