WASHINGTON — Iran left talks with the US on Thursday without a deal to end its nuclear program as President Trump escalated his military buildup in the Middle East to prepare for war.
The negotiations in Geneva were inconclusive, with Trump’s self-imposed deadline to reach an agreement on the future of Tehran’s nuclear program ticking down as soon as this weekend.
As diplomacy languishes, Trump continued to amass military assets Thursday in a sign that a strike could be around the corner — with ships moving into position and hundreds of military aircraft now gathered within range of Iran.
Experts say it would be one of the largest buildups of military assets ever without the US carrying out a strike. Already, the US has assembled the greatest amount of air power in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, signaling to analysts that some kind of US strike is around the corner.
Trump has said he’d prefer a deal, but all options are on the table militarily.
Thursday’s meeting took place exactly one week after Trump told a meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington that he would decide whether to hit the theocratic regime “over the next, probably, 10 days.”
Under deadline pressure, all sides described progress after more than six hours of discussions in Geneva — with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and mediator Badr Albusaidi, Oman’s foreign minister, saying follow-up “technical” talks would happen in Vienna, Austria, on Monday.
The Austrian capital is home to the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
But Iranian state media said the country had rejected the central US demand that it relinquish its nuclear program — saying representatives “firmly” reiterated Iran’s “nuclear rights” while demanding the end of US sanctions.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baqaei bashed the American side halfway through the day’s discussions.
“There are contradictory statements from some US officials, which raise doubts about their seriousness,” he said after a break in talks.
A starkly different tune came from the foreign minister after negotiations concluded for the day, who said that “overall, it was one of the best rounds of negotiations and one of the most serious and longest.”
Who currently holds power in Iran’s political leadership is unclear amid reports that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has effectively sidelined President Masoud Pezeshkian, who took office in 2024 as a reformer.
“On some issues, understanding has now been established,” the foreign minister said. “And on some issues, it is natural that we have differences of opinion, and perhaps more than in the past, the seriousness on both sides was evident to reach a negotiated solution.”
There was no immediate response from the White House, but War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were spotted departing the executive mansion around the time the Geneva talks wrapped up.
The US team was led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who left a morning session “disappointed,” but later felt the day’s work was “positive,” Axios reported.