Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 27.02.2026
According to Haaretz diplomats from the United States and Iran are meeting yesterday morning (Thursday) in Geneva to continue negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. The talks, mediated by Oman, are being held by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said this morning that their representatives are entering the talks “seriously and flexibly,” adding that the talks will only deal with nuclear issues and sanctions on the country.
Iranian President Masoud Pazshakian said this morning that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has banned weapons of mass destruction, “which clearly means that Tehran will not develop nuclear weapons.” According to reports in Iran, Ali Larijani, the secretary general of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, arrived in Muscat, the capital of Oman, yesterday to deliver Tehran’s official response to the United States.
The American news website Politico reported tonight, citing two sources familiar with the details, that senior advisers to US President Donald Trump prefer Israel to attack Iran before the United States in the event of war. According to the sources, the Trump administration believes that an Israeli attack will provoke an Iranian response, which will help mobilize support for an American attack from the American public in the United States.
According to recent polls in the United States, the American public (especially the Republicans) supports the overthrow of the Iranian regime, but is not willing for the United States to take on this role. Therefore, Trump’s team is currently examining how the attack will be carried out in a way that can be justified in front of American public opinion.
Tonight, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said: “The U.S. has evidence that Iran is trying to rebuild its nuclear program.” At the same time US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it clear that Iran is not enriching uranium at present, but is “trying to get to a point where it can do so.” Rubio added that today’s negotiations will focus mainly on the nuclear program. “Iran refuses to talk about ballistic missiles; with us or with another side, and that’s a big problem.” He noted that Iran has many ballistic missiles, “especially short-range ballistic missiles that threaten the United States, our bases in the region, and our partners in the region. They also have naval assets that threaten and they are trying to threaten the US Navy.”
Rubio’s comments about the nuclear program join a report in the Wall Street Journal, which was based on experts and diplomats, according to which Iran’s nuclear program has not made significant progress since the June 12-day war.
In his State of the Union address to both houses of Congress, Trump said that Iran was “the number one financier of terrorism in the world.” He stressed that he would not allow it to possess nuclear weapons. “They want a deal, but we haven’t heard the key words from them yet – ‘We will never have nuclear weapons.’ I would prefer to resolve it diplomatically, but I will not hesitate to confront threats against America wherever we are needed,” he said. But as usual, he is lying, because after all, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared that he is against the development of nuclear weapons. He can be believed, because during the Iraq-Iran war, the United States supplied weapons of mass destruction to Iraq, and Iran did not seek weapons of mass destruction. What else, the United States is the only country that has used atomic bombs. And Iran has the right to develop or acquire nuclear weapons as a defense against the United States and Israel. In addition, the number one terrorist is the USA.
Yesterday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that his country “will return to the negotiating table with the United States in Geneva, determined to achieve a fair and equal agreement — and as soon as possible.” Araghchi claimed that his country would never develop nuclear weapons, adding that it would never give up its right to “harness nuclear technology for peaceful purposes for the benefit of our people.”
The latest round of talks between the two countries, also held in Geneva and mediated by Oman, ended last week without a clear result. At the end of the meeting, Foreign Minister Araghchi said that his country had reached understandings in principle with the United States, adding that there were still issues in dispute, but stressed that “the road towards an agreement has been paved.” However, the messages from the US side were cooler.
Yesterday, US Vice President J.D. Vance said that Trump still prefers a diplomatic solution and that he hopes the Iranians “will take the negotiations seriously.” In an interview with Fox News, Vance declined to say whether the U.S. would want Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step down. “We are meeting for another round of talks with the aim of reaching a reasonable agreement.”
It is clear that Trump has second thoughts about whether to start a war against Iran, and he may only get Iranian agreement to not develop nuclear weapons.
In an attempt to put pressure on Iran, the US Treasury Department yesterday imposed sanctions on more than 30 individuals, entities, and vessels belonging to Tehran’s “shadow fleet” that it said had enabled the illegal sale of oil and facilitated the country’s ballistic missile program and weapons production. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also imposed sanctions on several chains that have helped the Revolutionary Guards and the Ministry of Defense and Logistics of Iran’s armed forces obtain raw materials and machinery needed to produce ballistic missiles and other weapons. This was stated in the ministry’s statement.
“Shadow fleet” refers to ships transporting oil that is subject to sanctions. These are usually old vessels, with a non-transparent ownership structure, that sail without the insurance required to comply with the international standards of large oil companies and many ports. This is a result of the sanctions on Iran, which are largely responsible for Iran’s precarious situation.