Iran hails encouraging signals from US before Thursday nuclear talks
By Al Jazeera, February 23, 2026Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said nuclear talks with the United States have produced “encouraging signals”, but warned that Tehran is prepared for any scenario in advance of another round of negotiations set for Thursday, February 26, 2026.
His comments on Sunday, February 22, 2026, came amid mounting fears of a military conflict, with Washington building up its military presence in the Gulf and US President Donald Trump warning of “really bad things” if no deal is reached on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
“Iran is committed to peace and stability in the region,” Pezeshkian wrote on X.
“Recent negotiations involved the exchange of practical proposals and yielded encouraging signals. However, we continue to closely monitor US actions and have made all necessary preparations for any potential scenario,” he said.
The cautious optimism came after Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi confirmed a third round of indirect talks between the two sides in Geneva, Switzerland.
“Pleased to confirm US-Iran negotiations are now set for Geneva this Thursday, with a positive push to go the extra mile towards finalising the deal,” said al-Busaidi, who acts as a mediator in indirect talks between Washington and Tehran.
Iran and the US resumed talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme in Oman earlier this month, and held a second round in Geneva last week. Although Washington and Tehran described the talks in overall positive terms, they failed to achieve a breakthrough.
Why haven’t they capitulated?
Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who leads nuclear negotiations for Washington, said on Saturday that the US president was curious as to why Iran has not yet “capitulated” and agreed to curb its nuclear programme.
“I don’t want to use the word ‘frustrated’, because he understands he has plenty of alternatives, but he’s curious as to… why they haven’t capitulated,” Witkoff said during an interview with My View with Lara Trump on Fox News, hosted by the US president’s daughter-in-law.
“Why, under this pressure – with the amount of seapower and naval power over there – why haven’t they come to us and said, ‘We profess we don’t want a weapon, so here’s what we’re prepared to do’? And yet, it’s sort of hard to get them to that place.”
According to the US media, the airpower Washington is amassing in the region is the greatest since its invasion of Iraq in 2003. In the past few days alone, the US has deployed more than 120 aircraft to the Middle East, while the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, is on its way to join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group that is already positioned in the Arabian Sea.
Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi pushed back swiftly.
“Curious to know why we do not capitulate?” he said in a post on X. “Because we are Iranian.”