People take part in a rally in support of Iranian protesters during a global day of action in Los Angeles, California, on Feb. 14, 2026.
Caroline Brehman | Reuters
Iran is pursuing a nuclear agreement with the U.S. that delivers economic benefits for both sides, an Iranian diplomat was reported as saying on Sunday, days before a second round of talks between Tehran and Washington.
Iran and the U.S. renewed negotiations earlier this month to tackle their decades-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme and avert a new military confrontation. The U.S. has dispatched a second aircraft carrier to the region and is preparing for the possibility of a sustained military campaign if the talks do not succeed, U.S. officials have told Reuters.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at a news conference in Bratislava, said President Donald Trump had made it clear that he would prefer diplomacy and a negotiated settlement, while making clear that may not happen.
“No one’s ever been able to do a successful deal with Iran but we’re going to try,” Rubio said.
Iran has threatened to strike U.S. bases in the Middle East if it is attacked by U.S. forces but on Sunday took a conciliatory line.
“For the sake of an agreement’s durability, it is essential that the U.S. also benefits in areas with high and quick economic returns,” foreign ministry deputy director for economic diplomacy Hamid Ghanbari said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
“Common interests in the oil and gas fields, joint fields, mining investments, and even aircraft purchases are included in the negotiations,” Ghanbari said, arguing that the 2015 nuclear pact with world powers had not secured U.S. economic interests.
In 2018, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the pact that had eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, and re-applied tough economic sanctions on Tehran.
On Friday, a source told Reuters that a U.S. delegation including envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would meet Iranian officials in Geneva on Tuesday, a meeting later confirmed to Reuters by a senior Iranian official on Sunday.
“Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be traveling, I think they are traveling right now, to have important meetings and we’ll see how that turns out,” Rubio said, without providing further details.
While talks leading to the 2015 nuclear pact were multilateral, the current negotiations are confined to Iran and the United States, with Oman acting as mediator.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi left Tehran for Geneva to take part in the indirect nuclear talks with the U.S. and meet the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, and others, his ministry said.
Open to compromise
Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi signalled Iran’s readiness to compromise on its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief, telling the BBC on Sunday that the ball was “in America’s court to prove that they want to do a deal.”
The senior official referred to the Iranian atomic chief’s statement on Monday that the country could agree to dilute its most highly enriched uranium in exchange for the lifting of sanctions as an example of Iran’s flexibility.
However, he reiterated that Tehran would not accept zero uranium enrichment, a key sticking point in past negotiations, with Washington viewing enrichment inside Iran as a potential pathway to nuclear weapons. Iran denies seeking such weapons.
In June, the U.S. joined Israel in a series of air strikes that targeted Iranian nuclear sites.
The U.S. is also stepping up economic pressure on Iran. At a White House meeting earlier this week, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed that the U.S. would work to reduce Iran’s oil exports to China, Axios reported on Saturday.
China accounts for more than 80% of Iran’s oil exports so any reduction in that trade would significantly lower Iran’s oil revenue.
Netanyahu: Dismantle Iran nuclear infrastructure
Netanyahu said on Sunday he told U.S. President Donald Trump last week that any U.S. deal with Iran must include the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, not just stopping the enrichment process.
Speaking at the annual Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Netanyahu also said Israel still needs to “complete the job” of destroying all tunnels in Gaza. Israel, he said, has already dismantled 150 km (93 miles) of an estimated 500 km.
Netanyahu said he is skeptical of a U.S. deal with Iran but said it must include enriched material leaving Iran. “There shall be no enrichment capability — not stopping the enrichment process, but dismantling the equipment and the infrastructure that allows you to enrich in the first place,” he said.
Netanyahu also said that he aimed to end U.S. military aid to Israel within the next 10 years, after the current 10-year deal of receiving $3.8 billion a year — which is largely spent in the United States on equipment — ends in 2028.
Due to a thriving economy, “we can afford to phase out the financial component of the military aid that we’re receiving, and I propose a 10-year drawdown to zero. Now, in the three years that remain in the present memorandum of understanding and another seven years draw it down to zero,” Netanyahu said.
“We want to move with the United States from aid to partnership,” he said.
