Iran\u2019s supreme leader warns that country could sink US warship recently deployed to region
\n Washington
\nIran said Tuesday it had agreed with the United States in talks in Geneva on \u201cguiding principles\u201d for a deal to avoid conflict, but Vice President JD Vance said Tehran had not yet acknowledged all of Washington\u2019s red lines.
\nThe Omani-mediated talks were aimed at averting the possibility of US military intervention to curb Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, weeks after the clerically run state killed thousands of people as it crushed mass demonstrations.
\nIran\u2019s supreme leader had warned earlier in the day that the country could sink a US warship recently deployed to the region, after President Donald Trump alluded to \u201cconsequences\u201d should the two sides fail to strike a deal.
\n\u201cUltimately, we were able to reach broad agreement on a set of guiding principles, based on which we will move forward and begin working on the text of a potential agreement,\u201d Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state television after Tuesday\u2019s talks, which he described as \u201cmore constructive\u201d than the previous round earlier this month.
\nHe added that once both sides had come up with draft texts for an agreement, \u201cthe drafts would be exchanged and a date for a third round (of talks) would be set\u201d.
\nIn Washington, Vance also appeared to indicate that the United States preferred diplomacy but painted a more mixed picture.
\n\u201cIn some ways, it went well; they agreed to meet afterwards,\u201d Vance said in a Fox News interview.
\n\u201cBut in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through,\u201d Vance told \u201cThe Story with Martha MacCallum\u201d program.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to keep on working it. But of course, the president reserves the ability to say when he thinks that diplomacy has reached its natural end,\u201d Vance said.
\nKey gaps
\nAraghchi also acknowledged that it \u201cwill take time to narrow\u201d the gap between the countries after the talks with Trump\u2019s friend and roving envoy Steve Witkoff and the president\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
\nIran, for years, has been seeking relief from sweeping sanctions imposed by the United States, including a US-imposed ban on other countries buying its oil.
\nOmani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said the two sides had made \u201cgood progress\u201d, but likewise cautioned \u201cmuch work is left to be done\u201d.
\nWashington has ordered two aircraft carriers to the region as it piles on pressure. The first \u2014 the USS Abraham Lincoln, with nearly 80 aircraft \u2014 was positioned about 700 kilometres (435 miles) from the Iranian coast as of Sunday, satellite images showed.
\nIts location puts at least a dozen US F\u201135s and F\u201118 fighter jets within striking distance. A second carrier was dispatched over the weekend.
\n\u201cA warship is certainly a dangerous weapon, but even more dangerous is the weapon capable of sinking it,\u201d Khamenei said in a speech on Tuesday.
\nIran has insisted that the talks be limited to the nuclear issue, though Washington has previously pushed for other topics to be discussed, including Tehran\u2019s ballistic missiles programme and support for armed groups in the region.
\nWar games
\nIran has also sought to display its military might, with its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps beginning a series of war games Monday in the Strait of Hormuz to prepare for \u201cpotential security and military threats\u201d, state television said.
\nIranian politicians have repeatedly threatened to block the Strait, a strategic route for oil and gas.
\nA previous attempt at diplomacy collapsed last year when Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran in June, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iran\u2019s supreme leader warns that country could sink US warship recently deployed to region Washington Iran said Tuesday it had agreed with the United States in talks in Geneva on \u201cguiding principles\u201d for a deal to avoid conflict, but Vice President JD Vance said Tehran had not yet acknowledged all of Washington\u2019s red lines. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-532143","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n