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US and Iran Agree on Principles for Nuclear Talks Amid Protest Crackdown

US and Iran Agree on Principles for Nuclear Talks Amid Protest Crackdown
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Washington and Tehran agreed to a new round of indirect nuclear talks after negotiators in Geneva said they had reached a “set of guiding principles” for a possible deal, even as the death toll from Iran’s brutal crackdown on nationwide protests remained fiercely contested, with some estimates running into the tens of thousands aljazeera +3. The latest diplomatic push unfolded under the shadow of an expanded U.S. military buildup in the region and repeated warnings from President Donald Trump that “bad things would happen” if no agreement was reached reuters +1.

The second round of talks wrapped up in Geneva on 17 February, mediated by Oman’s foreign minister, Badr bin Hamad al‑Busaidi, after an initial meeting earlier in the month in Turkey and follow‑on contacts in Oman’s capital Muscat aljazeera +2. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, led Tehran’s team; the U.S. side was headed by special envoy Steve Witkoff, with Trump personally tying the talks to his long‑stated demand for “zero nuclear capability” in Iran aljazeera +2. Both sides signalled plans for further meetings in early March.

Nuclear File Narrows to Enrichment and Sanctions Relief

Negotiators reported limited but concrete progress on a framework that would restrain Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for phased sanctions relief, but left core disputes unresolved aljazeera +2. Iran indicated it was willing to dilute or ship abroad its stocks of highly enriched uranium, yet continued to reject any deal that required an end to enrichment on Iranian soil, a position Araghchi framed as a matter of sovereignty jpost +1.

Sanctions relief remained the central sticking point. Iranian officials said they wanted rapid, “high and quick economic returns” through energy, mining and aircraft contracts, while U.S. officials pushed for stringent verification steps before major relief and insisted that ballistic missiles and Iran’s backing of regional militias eventually be addressed reuters +1. Tehran drew a clear red line, with senior adviser Ali Shamkhani declaring the country’s missile programme “non‑negotiable,” hardening opposition in Washington and Israel to a narrowly nuclear‑focused accord nucnet.

Protests and Crackdown Reshape Leverage on Both Sides

Talks resumed only weeks after Iran’s security forces crushed the largest anti‑government protests in decades, triggered in late December 2025 by a currency collapse and spreading to dozens of cities bbc +1. Rights groups and independent media documented mass shootings, disappearances and internet blackouts; confirmed death tolls ran from more than 6,000, according to activists, to over 20,000 in UN assessments, with some local officials privately citing figures as high as 30,000 for two days in January alone amnesty +3. Tehran officially acknowledged 3,117 deaths, blaming “terrorists” for the killings and demanding evidence from critics abroad aljazeera.

The bloodshed altered the diplomatic calculus. Analysts said the domestic crisis increased Tehran’s need for sanctions relief to ease economic pressure and avert further unrest, potentially making Iranian leaders more open to nuclear concessions that stop short of dismantling their programme bloomberg. At the same time, the crackdown fuelled calls in Washington and European capitals to condition any deal on accountability for abuses, complicating efforts to present sanctions relief to skeptical legislatures and rights advocates amnesty +1. Trump and his advisers pointed to the protests to justify both a tougher negotiating stance and the deployment of additional U.S. naval forces near Iran, aiming to enhance leverage but also raising the risk of miscalculation reuters +2.

The Bigger Picture

The parallel tracks of renewed diplomacy and escalating repression left the prospective agreement exposed on multiple fronts: technically fragile, politically polarizing and vulnerable to spoilers from hardliners in Tehran, hawks in Washington and an anxious Israel washingtonpost +2. With further rounds planned in early March, the outcome hinged on whether both sides could translate their Geneva “guiding principles” into a verifiable cap on Iran’s nuclear activities and a sanctions‑relief package robust enough to survive domestic backlash, all while the unresolved trauma of the protest crackdown continued to shape perceptions of Iran’s leadership at home and abroad aljazeera +2.