US, Iranian Officials to Meet in Switzerland for Talks

Iran is pursuing a nuclear deal with the U.S. that will ensure economic benefits for both parties, according to an Iranian diplomat, as the US and Tehran set to meet for their second round of talks in Switzerland.

Iran stated a day before the scheduled negotiations that the U.S. stance on Tehran’s nuclear program “has moved towards a more realistic one.”

“A cautious assessment is that, from the discussions that have taken place in Muscat to date, at least what we have been told is that the US position on the Iranian nuclear issue has moved towards a more realistic one,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Iran and the US have resumed talks in early February to discuss their decades-long dispute over the nation’s nuclear program, as well as to prevent potential military confrontation. According to U.S. officials, the US military has deployed a second aircraft to the region as it prepares for a potential military operation if negotiations fall short.

President Donald Trump had previously warned that if no agreement were reached, the outcome would be “very traumatic” for the Islamic nation.

U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at a news conference in Bratislava, called the ongoing talks “complicated,” assuring that President Trump has made it clear that he would prefer diplomacy and a negotiated agreement.

"We're dealing with radical Shia clerics," Rubio said. "We're dealing with people who make political decisions, geopolitical decisions on the basis of pure theology. And it's a complicated thing. No one has ever been able to do a successful deal with Iran, but we're going to try."

Iran’s Foreign Ministry announced that Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has left for Geneva to participate in the nuclear negotiations with the U.S. and meet with the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and several others.