Iran-US talks begin in push to avert war

GENEVA: Iran and the United States began indirect talks in Switzerland on Thursday, a last-ditch bid to avert war following the biggest American military build-up in the Middle East in decades.

The Oman-mediated discussions follow repeated threats from Donald Trump to strike Iran, with the US president last Thursday giving Tehran 15 days to reach a deal.

The US and Iranian delegations arrived at the venue at the Omani ambassador’s residence amid tight security, following a protest by Iranian exiles at their talks last week who threw objects at the Iranian motorcade.

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi later confirmed that discussions had begun, saying the two sides had expressed “unprecedented openness to new and creative ideas and solutions”.

Iran’s president insisted ahead of the talks that the Islamic republic was not “at all” seeking a nuclear weapon.

“Our Supreme Leader has already stated that we will not have nuclear weapons at all,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said, in a reference to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

United Nations nuclear chief Rafael Grossi would likely also attend the discussions in Geneva, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said.

While Iran has insisted the talks focus solely on its nuclear programme, the US wants Tehran’s missile programme and its support for militant groups in the region curtailed.

USS Gerald Ford leaves Crete

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, sent to the Mediterranean this week in a military build-up to put pressure on Iran, left a naval base in Crete Thursday, an AFP photographer said.

Its departure came as a new round of indirect talks between the United States and Iran on the latter’s nuclear programme, mediated by Oman’s foreign minister, opened in Geneva Thursday morning.

The vessel has been at the US Naval Support Activity Souda Bay base in Crete since Monday. The US embassy in Athens has declined to comment on the carrier’s presence, forwarding questions to the Pentagon in Washington.

President Donald Trump ordered strikes on Iran last year. He has repeatedly threatened Tehran with fresh military action if it does not cut a new deal on its contentious nuclear programme.

Washington has more than a dozen warships in the Middle East: one aircraft carrier — the USS Abraham Lincoln — nine destroyers and three other combat ships.

It is rare for there to be two US aircraft carriers, which carry dozens of warplanes and are crewed by thousands of sailors, in the Middle East.