Tehran Maintains Red Lines Ahead of Second Round of Geneva Talks

Cairo (ANTARA) - Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi departed for Geneva on Sunday (15/2) to attend the second round of indirect Tehran-Washington talks, even as the parties involved outlined vastly different visions of what any agreement should look like, exposing the fragile foundations of the revived diplomatic push.

Araghchi will lead a “diplomatic and specialist” delegation to attend the meeting on Tuesday (17/2).

He is expected to meet with several officials, including Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi, according to a ministry statement.

According to various media reports, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will lead the American delegation.

The meeting follows the first round in Muscat, Oman, on 6 February, which was described by both sides as a “good start” but yielded no tangible breakthrough.

In public statements ahead of the Geneva meeting, Iranian officials signalled conditional openness coupled with firmness.

Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi indicated Tehran’s willingness to compromise on its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief, whilst asserting non-negotiable red lines.

“The ball is in America’s court to prove they want to make a deal,” said Takht-Ravanchi.

He confirmed that Iran could discuss its 60 per cent enriched uranium as evidence of the country’s flexibility, but firmly rejected a total halt to enrichment on Iranian soil.

“This is no longer an option,” Takht-Ravanchi said, reaffirming that Iran’s missile programme is not up for negotiation.

Hamid Ghanbari, deputy foreign minister for economic diplomacy and a member of Iran’s negotiating team, revealed that previous discussions in Muscat explored joint investments in energy and mining projects as well as the potential purchase of US-made aircraft, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.

Ghanbari stressed that any agreement must ensure the release of Iran’s frozen assets abroad in a manner that is “real and usable”.

Furthermore, he said that whilst Tehran is seeking a “serious deal”, it would not accept a total cessation of uranium enrichment.

According to Iran’s official news agency IRNA, Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi warned on Sunday that any war would carry consequences for the United States.

“If Trump wants to go to war with Iran, why is he talking about negotiations?” Mousavi said, adding that entering a conflict would “teach him a lesson” and put an end to “his bluffing”.

Meanwhile, signals from Washington were also mixed. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Trump prefers diplomacy and resolution through negotiation. “Nobody has ever been able to make a successful deal with Iran, but we’re going to try,” Rubio said at a press conference in Bratislava, the Slovak capital.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following his meeting with Trump in Washington, also said that Trump is “determined to explore all possibilities to reach a deal, which he believes can now be achieved”.

However, Trump himself has kept the military option open. He told reporters on Thursday (12/2) that if negotiations with Iran fail, “We’ll have to go to phase two. Phase two will be very tough for them.”

On Friday (13/2), Trump said that the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, had been ordered to join the USS Abraham Lincoln and three guided-missile destroyers already deployed to the Middle East.

Tensions appear to run even deeper behind the scenes. CBS News reported on Sunday that Trump told Netanyahu as early as December that he would support an Israeli strike on Iran’s ballistic missile programme if a deal cannot be reached.

CBS News reported that US officials have since begun internal discussions on how to support such an operation, “including the provision of aerial refuelling for Israeli aircraft and sensitive issues relating to overflight permissions from countries along potential routes”.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu has set a maximalist standard. Speaking at a public conference on Sunday, he insisted that any potential deal with Iran must include the removal of nuclear material, the cessation of uranium enrichment, and restrictions on ballistic missiles.

Netanyahu also reaffirmed his scepticism “about any deal with Iran”.

With US warships gathering in the region and both sides bracing for the possibility of failure, many believe that the forthcoming talks on Tuesday could test whether diplomacy can still offer a way forward, or merely serve as a prelude to a deeper confrontation.