Delegations from Iran and the United States concluded indirect talks on Thursday evening, after pausing the talks for a couple of hours in the afternoon, at the residence of the Omani ambassador in Geneva, Switzerland.
The foreign minister of the mediating country Oman, Badr al-Busaidi, said in a post on X that "significant progress" has been made in the negotiations on a new nuclear energy agreement.
"We made very good progress and entered into the parts of the agreement very seriously, both in the nuclear energy area and the sanctions area," Araghchi told state Iranian television, referring to Iran's oft-repeated reservation that sanctions relief is required for anything to be signed.
According to Araghchi, the process will now continue with technical talks at the UN nuclear agency IAEA in Vienna starting on Monday. After that, a new round of negotiations, the fourth in a row, awaits between the US and Iran.
"It was agreed that it will be soon. Maybe less than a week from now," Araghchi said.
Disagreement about missiles
The stakes were high when the two archenemies met, and the risks of a military conflict are growing with increased American military presence in the region.
Ahead of the talks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Iran of attempting to develop ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States.
Iran must agree to negotiate on them too, he said.
"I would say that Iran's insistence on not discussing ballistic missiles is a big, big problem."
“15 days”
Vice President JD Vance claimed at the same time that the United States had seen evidence that Iran was trying to rebuild its nuclear energy program with the aim of producing nuclear weapons. Iran has steadfastly denied that this is the case.
"It's very simple: Iran cannot have nuclear weapons," Vance told reporters.
Abbas Araghchi led the Iranian delegation in Geneva, while President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner represented the United States.
After last week's negotiations, Trump gave Iran "a maximum of 15 days" to reach an agreement.
Otherwise, bad things will happen, the president said.
