PARIS: Iranian officials held out hope for progress towards a deal to forestall fresh conflict when talks with US negotiators resume on Thursday, despite a huge build-up of American military might in the Middle East. Speaking to CBS News on Sunday, Iran&#39;s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said details of a possible deal were being drawn up ahead of the renewed talks on Tehran&#39;s nuclear program, after Washington&#39;s envoy Steve Witkoff had publicly wondered why Tehran had not yet &quot;capitulated.&quot; Badr Albusaidi, foreign minister of regional mediator Oman, said talks would resume on Thursday in Geneva &quot;with a positive push to go the extra mile towards finalizing the deal.&quot; US threats of military action have multiplied since a nationwide protest movement in Iran sparked a crackdown that rights groups say killed thousands. On Sunday, Iranian students held competing pro- and anti-government protests, with critics of the clerical leadership risking arrest or worse if they are caught. &quot;If the US attacks us, then we have every right to defend ourselves,&quot; Araghchi said, alluding to American interests in the region as potential targets. Still, he said, &quot;there is a good chance to have a diplomatic solution.&quot; In a social media post, Iran&#39;s President Masoud Pezeshkian likewise said previous talks &quot;yielded encouraging signals.&quot; After a recent round of discussions in Geneva, Iran said it was preparing a draft proposal for an agreement that would avert military action. &quot;I believe that when we meet, probably this Thursday in Geneva again, we can work on those elements and prepare a good text and come to a fast deal,&quot; Araghchi told CBS. Axios had earlier reported, citing an unnamed senior US official, that if Iran submitted its proposal in the next 48 hours, Washington was ready to meet again later in the week &quot;to start detailed negotiations.&quot; The US has sent two aircraft carriers to the Middle East in recent weeks, along with other jets and ships, and has also shored up its air defenses in the region to back up its threats of military intervention. US President Donald Trump&#39;s chief Middle East negotiator Witkoff, said in a Fox News interview broadcast Saturday that the president was questioning why Iran had not yet given in to the pressure. &quot;He&#39;s curious as to why they haven&#39;t... I don&#39;t want to use the word &#39;capitulated,&#39; but why they haven&#39;t capitulated,&quot; he said. &quot;Why haven&#39;t they come to us and said, &#39;We profess we don&#39;t want a weapon, so here&#39;s what we&#39;re prepared to do&#39;?&quot; Western governments fear Iran&#39;s nuclear program is aimed at developing a bomb, which Tehran has long denied, though it insists on its right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes. On the subject of uranium enrichment, Araghchi said Sunday that Iran had &quot;every right to decide for ourselves.&quot; Fears of war A previous round of diplomacy last year was interrupted by Israel&#39;s bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic. That sparked a 12-day conflict in June that the US briefly joined with strikes on Iran&#39;s nuclear facilities. Despite the recent Oman-mediated talks, Iranians&#39; fears of a new conflict have grown. &quot;I don&#39;t sleep well at night even while taking pills,&quot; Tehran resident Hamid told AFP. IT technician Mina Ahmadvand, 46, believes that &quot;at this stage, war between Iran and the US as well as Israel is inevitable.&quot; &quot;I don&#39;t want war to happen, but one should not fool around with the realities on the ground.&quot; The concerns have prompted several foreign countries to urge their citizens to leave Iran, including Sweden, Serbia, Poland and Australia. Protests Iran has previously said that quickly striking a deal is in its interests if it means relief from sanctions that have hamstrung its economy, which contributed to protests late last year over the high cost of living. Those demonstrations quickly expanded into mass anti-government protests that marked one of the largest challenges to the Islamic Republic&#39;s leadership in years, prompting a crackdown by authorities that saw several people die, according to rights groups. On Sunday, Iranian students gathered for fresh pro- and anti-government rallies commemorating those killed following similar gatherings the day before. Local and diaspora media outlets reported demonstrations at multiple Tehran universities, with some participants waving the flag of Iran&#39;s deposed monarchy, and others chanting &quot;death to the shah,&rdquo; who was toppled by the 1979 Islamic revolution. Trump had initially cheered on the protesters, threatening to intervene on their behalf amid the crackdown, but his threats soon shifted to Iran&#39;s nuclear program. Voicing their support for the protests, several Iraq-based Kurdish-Iranian groups announced on Sunday that they were forming a political coalition to unite against Iran&#39;s Islamic system. The main goals of the alliance, a joint statement said, are &quot;the struggle to overthrow the Islamic republic of Iran, and to achieve self-determination for the Kurds.&quot;

Americas

The US has sent two aircraft carriers to the Middle East in recent weeks, along with other jets and ships, and has also shored up its air defenses in the region to back up its threats of military intervention.

Iran-US talks expected Thursday despite fears of strikes

PARIS: Iran plans to submit a draft nuclear proposal following recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/iran-us-hold-new-geneva-talks-as-khamenei-warns-of-sinking-us-warship" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">negotiations in Geneva</a>, as the United States increases its military presence in the region. US President Donald Trump sent the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-aircraft-carrier-located-near-iran-as-washington-increases-military-pressure" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">aircraft</a> carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the region, while a second, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is en route via the Mediterranean.&nbsp;The US has also redeployed dozens of other warplanes to the Middle East, where it maintains several bases, while boosting its air defenses. <figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/d266b201-8c85-4f2b-bf24-516b956cabd7-AFP__20260220__98DC7YG__v7__MidRes__SpainUsIranMilitaryDefenceConflictDiplomacy.jpg" alt="This handout image released and taken by David Parody on February 20, 2026, shows the US aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford heading through the Strait of Gibraltar as seen from Gibraltar. (AFP)" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">This handout image released and taken by David Parody on February 20, 2026, shows the US aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford heading through the Strait of Gibraltar as seen from Gibraltar. (AFP)</figcaption></figure> The build-up seeks to pressure Iran&#39;s authorities as the two sides pursue nuclear talks. Iranian Foreign Minister&nbsp;Abbas Araghchi&nbsp;told US media this week that, following the latest round of negotiations in Geneva, Iran would submit a draft agreement proposal, which would be released in a matter of days. <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/iranian-fm-araghchi-in-geneva-for-second-round-of-us-talks" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Araghchi</a> also said the &quot;US side has not asked for zero enrichment&quot; of uranium, contradicting statements from American officials. Iran denies it is trying to produce nuclear weapons, but insists on its right to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/iran-defies-us-threats-to-insist-on-right-to-enrich-uranium" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">enrich uranium</a> for civilian purposes. The US media outlet Axios reported this week, citing an unnamed senior US official, that Washington was prepared to consider a proposed deal that would permit only &quot;small, token enrichment.&quot; Trump has suggested that &quot;bad things&quot; will happen if Tehran does not strike a deal, saying Thursday that it had 15 days to agree. Fears of a conflict have prompted several foreign countries to urge their citizens to leave Iran, including Sweden, Serbia, Poland, and Australia, which warned, &quot;Commercial flights are currently available, but this could change quickly.&quot; A previous round of nuclear diplomacy last year was interrupted by Israel&#39;s surprise bombing campaign against the Middle Eastern nation. The United States ultimately joined its ally, striking nuclear facilities before declaring a ceasefire. Iran has maintained that it will defend itself in the event of any new attack. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in remarks to athletes carried by state television, said the country would &quot;not yield to any trial, even if the powers of the world stand against us with injustice and try to force us into submission.&quot;

A woman walks near a banner depicting Iran's late and current supreme leaders (R to L) Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei along a main street in Tehran on February 21, 2026. (AFP)

Middle East

The US has deployed aircraft carriers and warplanes to pressure Iran during nuclear talks. Tehran insists on its right to civilian uranium enrichment.

Iran to submit draft nuclear proposal as US military presence grows

GENEVA: Iran said Tuesday it had agreed with the United States in <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/iran-us-hold-new-geneva-talks-as-khamenei-warns-of-sinking-us-warship" style="color:#0073e6;">talks</a> in Geneva on &quot;guiding principles&quot; for a deal to avoid conflict, but Vice President JD Vance said Tehran had not yet acknowledged all of Washington&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-warns-iran-of-consequences-of-not-making-a-deal" style="color:#0073e6;">red lines</a>. The Omani-mediated talks were aimed at averting the possibility of US military intervention to curb Iran&#39;s nuclear program, weeks after the cleric-run state killed thousands of people as it crushed mass demonstrations. Iran&#39;s supreme leader had warned earlier in the day that the country had the ability to sink a US <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-aircraft-carrier-located-near-iran-as-washington-increases-military-pressure" style="color:#0073e6;">warship</a> recently deployed to the region, after President Donald Trump alluded to &quot;consequences&quot; should the two sides fail to strike a deal. &quot;Ultimately, we were able to reach broad agreement on a set of guiding principles, based on which we will move forward and begin working on the text of a potential agreement,&quot; Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state television after Tuesday&#39;s talks, which he described as &quot;more constructive&quot; than the previous round earlier this month. He added that once both sides had come up with draft texts for an agreement, &quot;the drafts would be exchanged and a date for a third round (of talks) would be set.&quot; In Washington, Vance also appeared to indicate that the United States preferred diplomacy but painted a more mixed picture. &quot;In some ways, it went well; they agreed to meet afterwards,&quot; Vance said in a Fox News interview. &quot;But in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through,&quot; Vance told &quot;The Story with Martha MacCallum&quot; program. &quot;We&#39;re going to keep on working it. But of course, the president reserves the ability to say when he thinks that diplomacy has reached its natural end,&quot; Vance said. Key gaps&nbsp;Araghchi also acknowledged that it &quot;will take time to narrow&quot; the gap between the countries after the talks with Trump&#39;s friend and roving envoy Steve Witkoff and the president&#39;s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Iran for years has been seeking relief from sweeping sanctions imposed by the United States, including a US-imposed ban on other countries buying its oil. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said the two sides had made &quot;good progress,&quot; but likewise cautioned &quot;much work is left to be done.&quot; Washington has ordered two aircraft carriers to the region as it piles on pressure. The first &mdash; the USS Abraham Lincoln, with nearly 80 aircraft &mdash; was positioned about 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the Iranian coast as of Sunday, satellite images showed. Its location puts at least a dozen US F‑35s and F‑18 fighter jets within striking distance. A second carrier was dispatched over the weekend. &quot;A warship is certainly a dangerous weapon, but even more dangerous is the weapon capable of sinking it,&quot; Khamenei said in a speech Tuesday. Iran has insisted the talks be limited to the nuclear issue, though Washington has previously pushed for other topics to be discussed, including Tehran&#39;s ballistic missiles program and support for armed groups in the region. War games&nbsp;Iran has also sought to display its military might, with its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps beginning a series of war games Monday in the Strait of Hormuz to prepare for &quot;potential security and military threats,&quot; state television said. Iranian politicians have repeatedly threatened to block the strait, a strategic route for oil and gas. A previous attempt at diplomacy collapsed last year when Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran in June, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites. The West fears Iran&#39;s nuclear program is aimed at making a bomb, which Tehran denies. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated in an interview published Tuesday that Tehran was &quot;absolutely not seeking nuclear weapons.&quot; &quot;If anyone wants to verify this, we are open to such verification to take place,&quot; he said. Ali Fathollah-Nejad, director of the Berlin-based Centre for Middle East and Global Order, said Iran was faced with an &quot;existential dilemma.&quot; &quot;Giving in to US demands could bring sanctions relief that it would desperately need to stabilize the regime and fund its repressive apparatus,&quot; he told AFP. &quot;However, any significant concessions on the nuclear, ballistic missile and regional proxies issues would sensitively undermine its ideological and military standing.&quot;

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi delivers a speech during a session of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, on the sideline of a second round of US-Iranian talks on February 17, 2026. (AFP)

Tehran and Washington hold a second round of negotiations after talks last year collapsed following Israel's attack on Iran in June; talks continue after Washington deployed an aircraft carrier group to the Middle East following Iran's deadly crackdown last month on anti-government protests, first sparked by economic hardships.



Iran upbeat after US talks but Vance says 'red lines' not met

GENEVA: Switzerland said Saturday that Oman would host talks between the United States and Iran in Geneva next week, with Washington pushing Tehran to make a deal to limit its nuclear program.&nbsp;&quot;Switzerland stands ready at all times to offer its good offices to facilitate dialogue between the United States and Iran,&quot; a Swiss foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.&nbsp;On February 6, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held talks in Oman with US envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump&#39;s influential son-in-law Jared Kushner.&nbsp;The talks were indirect, with the Omanis acting as mediators.&nbsp;Trump has recently focused his military threats on Tehran&#39;s nuclear program, which US forces struck last July during Israel&#39;s unprecedented 12-day war with Iran.&nbsp;Trump said Friday that a change of government in Iran would be the &quot;best thing that could happen&quot;, as he sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East, ratcheting up military pressure on the Islamic republic.&nbsp;Go-betweenSwitzerland has played a key role in diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States for decades.&nbsp;Renowned for its neutrality, Switzerland has been representing US interests in Iran since Washington broke off relations with Tehran after the 1980 hostage crisis, a year after the Iranian revolution.&nbsp;In its role as the so-called protecting power, Switzerland has for decades allowed the two feuding nations to maintain a minimum of diplomatic and consular relations.&nbsp;The Swiss embassy in Tehran handles all consular affairs between the United States and Iran, including passport requests, altering civil status and consular protection for US citizens in Iran.&nbsp;Under the protecting power mandate, &quot;Switzerland can either offer to act as a go-between on its own initiative or can fulfil this function at the request of the parties concerned, provided that all those involved agree,&quot; the foreign ministry says on its website.&nbsp;The United States will be holding separate talks, also in Geneva next week, between Russia and Ukraine.&nbsp;Moscow and Kyiv will hold US-brokered talks on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Swiss city, both countries have said, announcing the next leg in fraught negotiations seeking to end the four-year war.&nbsp;Trump is pushing to halt the conflict, but two previous rounds of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi have not yielded signs of a breakthrough.

Asia

Switzerland said Oman will host indirect talks in Geneva between the United States and Iran on its nuclear programme. Switzerland acts as mediator while US increases pressure and military presence in the region.

Swiss say Oman to host US-Iran talks in Geneva next week

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced a mass walkout at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday as he delivered a combative defense of Israel&rsquo;s war in Gaza, laced with Islamophobic remarks, attacks on Western states recognizing Palestine, and warnings against Iran.&nbsp;Netanyahu addressed a largely empty hall after dozens of delegations walked out in protest over Israel&rsquo;s military campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 65,500 people, mostly civilians, according to local health authorities. His speech was broadcast along the Israel-Gaza border via loudspeakers mounted on trucks as part of an official campaign to project his message inside Gaza.&nbsp;Netanyahu, who faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes, lashed out at France, Britain, Australia, and Canada for recognizing a Palestinian state. He compared the move to &ldquo;murdering Jews,&rdquo; accusing these governments of &ldquo;rewarding terrorism.&rdquo;&nbsp;He warned that establishing a Palestinian state near Jerusalem would be like &ldquo;giving Al Qaeda a state one mile from New York City after September 11,&rdquo; dismissing the idea as &ldquo;sheer madness.&rdquo;&nbsp;Iran as &ldquo;terror axis&rdquo;Holding up a map labeled &ldquo;The Curse,&rdquo; Netanyahu described Iran as the hub of a &ldquo;terror axis&rdquo; threatening &ldquo;the peace of the entire world&rdquo; and Israel&rsquo;s existence. He cited Israel&rsquo;s strikes on Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas, and even took credit for the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.<figure class="fr-media"> </figure><figure class="fr-media"> </figure><figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/57ed6d92-3fb6-4da1-a741-800c2b8d648b-netnayhua.png" alt="The Israeli PM started off his speech by pulling out a map with the words “The Curse” written on it. He declared Iran as a hub “terror axis” that threatens the “peace of entire world”, “the stability of [Middle East]”, and “the very existence of my countr" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">The Israeli PM started off his speech by pulling out a map with the words &ldquo;The Curse&rdquo; written on it. He declared Iran as a hub &ldquo;terror axis&rdquo; that threatens the &ldquo;peace of entire world&rdquo;, &ldquo;the stability of [Middle East]&rdquo;, and &ldquo;the very existence of my country, Israel&rdquo;.</figcaption></figure>Iran&rsquo;s foreign ministry denounced the speech as &ldquo;Islamophobic propaganda&rdquo; aimed at justifying &ldquo;genocide in Gaza&rdquo; and condemned what it called Israel&rsquo;s attempts to distract from its war crimes.&nbsp;Rejection of genocideResponding to genocide accusations, Netanyahu claimed Israel takes unprecedented measures to protect civilians, saying, &ldquo;For Israel, every civilian casualty is a tragedy. For Hamas, it is a victory.&rdquo;&nbsp;He accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields but rejected responsibility for Gaza&rsquo;s humanitarian catastrophe, which UN agencies warn has pushed the enclave to the brink of famine.&nbsp;Hamas responseHamas welcomed the mass boycott, saying it underscored Israel&rsquo;s deepening isolation. &ldquo;Boycotting Netanyahu&rsquo;s speech is one manifestation of Israel&rsquo;s isolation and the consequences of the war of extermination,&rdquo; said Taher al-Nunu, media adviser to Hamas political bureau.&nbsp;<figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/67780db5-3782-4c05-bfbc-39927ba3c9bf-6283817018288264.jpg" alt="6283817018288264.jpg" class="fr-fil fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">People walk out of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speech at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 26, 2025 in New York City. (AFP)</figcaption></figure>Netanyahu also dismissed the Palestinian Authority as &ldquo;corrupt to the core,&rdquo; accusing it of incentivizing violence against Israelis. He argued the PA was no different from Hamas in opposing Israel&rsquo;s existence.&nbsp;Hostages and US supportSpeaking directly to families of hostages still held in Gaza, Netanyahu vowed they would not be forgotten: &ldquo;We will not rest until we bring all of you home.&rdquo; He praised US President Donald Trump for supporting Israel and urged the UN Security Council to reinstate sanctions against Iran to prevent it from rebuilding its nuclear program.&nbsp;Rejection of ceasefireThe Israeli leader rejected international appeals for a ceasefire as &ldquo;empty posturing,&rdquo; insisting that many governments privately thank Israel for countering terrorism. He described Israel&rsquo;s post-October 7 response as &ldquo;one of the most stunning in history,&rdquo; though fighting continues.&nbsp;Despite ruling out Palestinian statehood, Netanyahu signaled openness to peace with Lebanon and Syria through direct talks. He suggested that defeating Hamas could clear the way for broader normalization with Arab and Muslim-majority states, but warned Western leaders against &ldquo;shoving a terror state down our throats.&rdquo;

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., September 26, 2025. REUTERSKylie Cooper

Israeli PM opens his address in front of a largely empty hall, as several delegations staged a walkout in protest against the war in Gaza.

Articles tagged with "Iran nuclear program"

Iran-US talks expected Thursday despite fears of strikes

Iran to submit draft nuclear proposal as US military presence grows

Iran upbeat after US talks but Vance says 'red lines' not met

Swiss say Oman to host US-Iran talks in Geneva next week

Netanyahu’s UNGA speech triggers walkout amid Gaza war protests