Geneva (AFP) – 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 programme. “Switzerland stands ready at all times to offer its good offices to facilitate dialogue between the United States and Iran,” a Swiss foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.
On February 6, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held talks in Oman with US envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s influential son-in-law Jared Kushner. The talks were indirect, with the Omanis acting as mediators. Trump has recently focused his military threats on Tehran’s nuclear programme, which US forces struck last June during Israel’s unprecedented 12-day war with Iran. Trump said Friday that a change of government in Iran would be the “best thing that could happen,” as he sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East, ratcheting up military pressure on the Islamic republic.
Switzerland has played a key role in diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States for decades. 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. 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.
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. Under the protecting power mandate, “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,” the foreign ministry says on its website.
The United States will be holding separate talks, also in Geneva next week, between Russia and Ukraine. 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. 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.
© 2024 AFP
