US and Iranian officials kicked off a fresh round of indirect talks in Switzerland Thursday, as President Trump’s deadline to reach an agreement on the future of Tehran’s nuclear program looms as soon as this weekend.
The American and Iranian delegations arrived separately at the Omani diplomatic residence on the shores of Lake Geneva.
Oman’s Foreign Ministry later published images of US special Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, meeting with Omani Foreign Minister Bader al-Busaidi.
Thursday’s meeting is taking place exactly one week after Trump told a meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington that he would decided whether to hit the theocratic regime “over the next, probably, 10 days.”
During Tuesday night’s State of the Union address to Congress, the president warned that Iran was “working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America,” among other “sinister designs.”
“We are in negotiations with them,” Trump said. “They want to make a deal but we haven’t heard those sacred words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.’”