Syed Zafar Mehdi
26 February 2026•Update: 26 February 2026
TEHRAN, Iran
An immediate agreement between Iran and the US is “within reach” if the core of the ongoing indirect negotiations is the “non-development of nuclear weapons,” a senior Iranian official said Thursday.
Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, wrote on the US social media company X that the non-development of nuclear weapons is “fully consistent” with Khamenei’s fatwa (religious edit) prohibiting the development of weapons of mass destruction.
Shamkhani, who is the head of the newly established Defense Council, said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is leading the Iranian delegation in the Geneva talks, has “sufficient support and authority for such an agreement.”
The current status of Iran’s nuclear program remains unclear following the June 2025 strikes on three key nuclear facilities, which US President Donald Trump at the time claimed had “obliterated” the country’s nuclear infrastructure.
In recent days, however, Trump has raised the possibility of targeting Iran’s nuclear program, saying that Tehran is not saying they do not want a nuclear weapon.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff also claimed in a recent television interview that Iran is “weeks away” from building a nuclear weapon.
Iran maintains that it is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program and that its enrichment activities are for peaceful and energy purposes.
In statements early Thursday ahead of the new round of talks between Iran and the US, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian described claims that Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons as “lies,” insisting that the country will not develop such arms.
He cited the same religious edict by Khamenei banning weapons of mass destruction, which, he said, means Tehran will not develop nuclear weapons.
The third and latest round of indirect nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States is currently underway in Geneva under Omani mediation.
The state-run news agency IRNA reported that the new round of indirect talks began at 10 am local time (0900GMT) at one of the buildings belonging to the Omani Embassy.
Shortly after arriving on Wednesday, Araghchi, who is leading Iran’s delegation to the talks, met his Omani counterpart, Badr Al-Busaidi, to discuss the framework of the talks and a draft proposal by Tehran.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has also joined the talks as a technical observer, according to Iranian media reports.
The talks are held amid a significant US military buildup in the Persian Gulf region, alongside a series of recent drills conducted by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
