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What to know about US-Iran nuclear talks in Geneva

What to know about US-Iran nuclear talks in Geneva
By Edna Mohamed, Nils Adler, Jillian Kestler-D'Amours and Ali Harb
Published On 26 Feb 2026

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26 Feb 2026 - 22:55
 (22:55 GMT)

Thanks for joining us

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For more on the latest US-Iran talks in Geneva, check out our story here.

Al Jazeera’s The Take podcast also spoke with Sina Toosi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, about the Trump administration’s stance. Check it out here.

And for all our Iran coverage, check out this page.

26 Feb 2026 - 22:45
 (22:45 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

We will soon be closing this live page. Here’s a look at the day’s main developments:

  • A third round of US-Iran nuclear talks concluded in Geneva, lasting several hours, with mediator Oman saying “significant progress” was made and more discussions would be held next week in Vienna.
  • Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi says “good progress” was made on the nuclear issue and sanctions relief, but differences remain. The Trump administration has yet to comment.
  • Oman and Iran said talks are set to resume on a “technical” level in Vienna on Monday.
  • Experts have expressed cautious optimism that the talks can produce an agreement, but warn that tensions and the threat of a military confrontation persist.
  • Democratic Party lawmakers in the US House of Representatives say they will force a vote next week on a bill that would require Trump to seek congressional approval before a possible attack on Iran.
26 Feb 2026 - 22:40
 (22:40 GMT)

Top Republican senator backs regime change in Iran

Senate Majority Leader John Thune says any US strikes against Iran should lead to “transformational change” in the region.

“In my view, if you’re going to do something there, you better well make it about getting new leadership and regime change,” Thune told reporters.

Opinion polls have repeatedly shown the unpopularity of military action in Iran with US voters.

26 Feb 2026 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)

Tehran resident wary about what renewed conflict would mean

A Tehran resident named Tayebeh has told the AFP news agency that, should US-Iran diplomacy fail and military conflict break out, “there would be famine and people would suffer a lot.”

“People are suffering now, but at least with war, our fate might be clear,” the 60-year-old homemaker added.

26 Feb 2026 - 22:20
 (22:20 GMT)

Photos: A day of talks in Geneva

Iranian negotiating delegation departs for the site of the talks on February 26, 2026 [Iranian Foreign Ministry/WANA/ Handout via Reuters]
US special envoy Steve Witkoff arrives to his hotel during the third round of talks [Fabrice Coffrini/AFP]
Oman’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi, right, with WItkoff and US President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner [Foreign Ministry of Oman via AP Photo]

26 Feb 2026 - 22:10
 (22:10 GMT)
Analysis

How can US and Iran ‘thread needle’ on enrichment?

We have more from political analyst Barbara Slavin, who says technical talks set for Vienna next week are cause for some optimism.

“But it’s still my understanding that Iran is refusing to concede the right to enrich uranium, and the United States is insisting on no enrichment. So how do they thread that needle? That is still the question,” Slavin told Al Jazeera.

“Is there a way that Iran can repurpose the 60 percent uranium that it has, buried under the rubble of the last US and Israeli attacks, to use that perhaps for its research reactor that produces medical isotopes? These are technical questions, and perhaps this is a way to resolve the issue.”

But Slavin said that she remains concerned that there may be some military action.

“When you bring that much firepower to bear,” she said, referring to the US military buildup in the region, “it is hard to imagine that the Trump administration is going to be able to just remove it all without firing a shot.”

The US has moved major military hardware, including the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, into the Gulf [File: US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jesse Monford/Handout via Reuters]
26 Feb 2026 - 22:00
 (22:00 GMT)
Analysis

Despite ‘progress’ in talks, prospect of war persists

By Ali Harb

After the last round of talks between the US and Iran last year, officials from both sides hailed what they called progress in the negotiations at that time.

But weeks later, Israel launched an all-out assault against Iran, and the US joined in, bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities.

US and Iranian officials were scheduled to meet again days before the bombs started falling.

“We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue! My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform hours before Israel launched its attack.

So, despite assurances from US and Iranian officials that they prefer a deal and reports that the ongoing talks have been positive, renewed conflict cannot be ruled out.

The US is continuing to amass fighter jets and aircraft carriers in the region in what has been described as the largest military buildup since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Israel and the US have shown willingness to attack during negotiations – if not use the talks as a ploy to catch Iran by surprise.

The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford departs Souda Bay on the island of Crete on February 26, 2026 [File: Costas Metaxakis/AFP]
26 Feb 2026 - 21:45
 (21:45 GMT)

WATCH: Uranium freeze a tactical pause as Tehran rejects zero enrichment – Analysts

A senior Iranian official has told Al Jazeera that Tehran offered to temporarily freeze uranium enrichment but rejects the idea of permanently ending enrichment, or transferring its stockpile abroad.

We spoke with two experts about the situation. Check it out below:

26 Feb 2026 - 21:30
 (21:30 GMT)

Israel’s push for US war with Iran ‘should make people sick’: Tucker Carlson

The conservative commentator says many Americans do not realise that the US military is on the verge of attacking Iran.

“The reason is simple. It’s not because Iran attacked America, hates America, or even threatens America. It’s because Israel wants us to fight their war for them. For whatever reason, establishment Washington is happy to oblige,” Carlson, an influential figure in Trump’s right-wing political movement, wrote in a newsletter.

“This whole saga should make people sick. Our country is struggling on many domestic fronts, but our ruling class thinks advancing Israel’s interests should be the top priority? Seriously?”

Tucker Carlsonand  Donald Trump react during the final round of the Bedminster Invitational LIV Golf tournament in Bedminster, New Jersey, July 31, 2022 [File: Seth Wenig/AP Photo]
26 Feb 2026 - 21:15
 (21:15 GMT)
Explainer

Before Trump, Netanyahu claimed Iran was developing missiles to reach US

Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi has dismissed Trump’s claim that Iran is developing long-range missiles, saying that the US president has fallen victim to “fake news”.

And the news may have come from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Months before Trump made the claim, which has been echoed by other US officials, during his State of the Union address, Netanyahu said that Iran was developing missiles to reach US cities.

“Iran can blackmail any American city,” Netanyahu told pro-Israel podcaster Ben Shapiro in October 2025. “People don’t believe it. Iran is developing intercontinental missiles with a range of 8,000 kilometres [5,000 miles]; add another 3,000 [1,865 miles] and they can get to the East Coast of the US.”

26 Feb 2026 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)
Analysis

Trump administration sowing ‘tremendous sense of confusion’

Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, says the US president has people in his ear telling him “that the Iranian regime has never been so weak and this is his opportunity to contribute to the overthrow of the Islamic Republic”.

“I think that is really, really the goal – rather than a narrow nuclear deal,” Slavin said during the Arab Center’s Washington, DC event. But Trump also campaigned on a promise to end “forever wars” and US military interventions around the world, “so he is also being cautious.”

“Fortunately, there are still people in the Pentagon and military experts outside who are warning that if you start down the road of military action toward Iran, there are many unpredictable and unpleasant consequences that could flow from that,” Slavin said.

She added that it remains difficult to say what Trump is trying to achieve, from further degrading the Iranian nuclear programme to containing Iran’s ability to obtain ballistic missiles or precipitating regime change in Tehran.

“Does he think that the United States can bring down the Iranian government with air strikes? Surely, he knows that that is not likely. So I think we have a tremendous sense of confusion here.”

26 Feb 2026 - 20:45
 (20:45 GMT)

‘It’s beginning to sound like 2003’

Carl Bildt, co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, has likened claims of Iran developing long-range missiles to the false reports that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the US invasion in 2003.

“I don’t think there are any indications that [Iran] is developing intercontinental ballistic missiles, and claims that they have ballistic missiles able to hit Europe are also highly questionable,” Bildt, who previously served as Sweden’s prime minister, wrote on X.

“It’s beginning to sound like 2003.”

26 Feb 2026 - 20:35
 (20:35 GMT)

US Democrats push for oversight of any decision to wage war against Iran

By Rosiland Jordan

Reporting from Washington, DC

There has been growing concern, particularly among Congressional Democrats, that the majority Republicans on Capitol Hill were essentially giving a greenlight to the Trump administration to do whatever it wants regarding Tehran.

They indicate that there has been a whole-scale ignoring of Congressional insight and authority on the decision of whether to wage war, and that it is high time that Congress reassert its constitutional responsibility.

They believe that this is a winning argument with the American public.

26 Feb 2026 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)

Trump administration ‘should come clean’ about its goals in Iran: Schumer

Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, who met Rubio for a classified briefing earlier this week, says that “the American people deserve answers” about Trump’s Iran policy.

“Everyone is asking what the plan is with respect to Iran, and we’re all looking for answers that the administration has refused to give,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

“The issues we discussed in our classified briefing were very serious, and the American people deserve to hear it directly from the president and his administration. The administration should come clean and tell the American people exactly what the goal is in Iran.”

26 Feb 2026 - 20:15
 (20:15 GMT)

UN hopes talks will ‘lower the temperature’

Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, says the global body will not comment on US-Iran negotiations as they are unfolding.

“We very much hope that they will help lower the temperature and solve the issues at hand, but we’re not going to discuss these things while the talks are going on,” Dujarric told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

UN chief Antonio Guterres [File: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters]
26 Feb 2026 - 20:00
 (20:00 GMT)

Iranian FM’s full statement after third round of talks

Here’s what Araghchi told reporters after the conclusion of talks in Geneva Today:

“Today, I can say that one of our most serious and longest rounds of negotiations took place. The meeting lasted for about four hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon.

“These talks were held indirectly and with the mediation of the Omani foreign minister, and in some parts [IAEA chief Mariano] Grossi also conveyed the discussions between the two sides. His presence was useful from a technical point of view. The Omani foreign minister also played an active role, as in the past.

“Overall, during these long and very intensive hours, good progress was made, and we entered into a serious examination of the elements of an agreement, both in the nuclear field and in the sanctions field.

“On some issues, understandings have come very close. Of course, there are still differences of opinion, which is natural, but compared to the past, both sides are more serious about reaching a negotiated solution.

“It was agreed that, starting Monday, technical teams in Vienna and at the International Atomic Energy Agency will begin technical expert reviews to set some technical issues within a specific framework and then adapt them to the demands and political considerations of both sides.

“It was also decided that the next round of negotiations will be held in the near future—probably in less than a week.”

26 Feb 2026 - 19:50
 (19:50 GMT)

No immediate comment from US officials on talks

There has been no immediate comment from the Trump administration after the talks concluded in Geneva.

This follows a familiar pattern from previous rounds of discussions.

We’ll bring you any remarks from US officials when we can.

26 Feb 2026 - 19:42
 (19:42 GMT)
Houthi

Iran says ‘good progress’ made in talks

Araghchi tells reporters that today’s round of talks with the US yielded “good progress” on the nuclear issue and sanction relief.

But he added that some differences remain.

“Consultations should be held in the capitals, and then we will have the fourth round of talks next week,” he said, according to the Iranian news agency IRNA.

26 Feb 2026 - 19:36
 (19:36 GMT)
Developing

Araghchi confirms technical talks next week

The top Iranian diplomat says the sides were “close” to reaching an understanding in some areas.

He also confirmed that technical teams from the US and Tehran will hold negotiations on Monday.

26 Feb 2026 - 19:30
 (19:30 GMT)

Iranian FM says talks were the ‘most serious’ yet

Speaking to reporters in Geneva after the conclusion of the third round of US-Iran talks, Araghchi says, “These were the most serious and longest talks.”