US and Iran agree to fourth meeting in Vienna after intense negotiations Thursday

bakersfieldnow.com · Feb 27, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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by AHTRA ELNASHAR | The National News DeskThu, February 26, 2026 at 2:36 PMUpdated Thu, February 26, 2026 at 2:41 PMWASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 29: U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff speaks during a meeting of the Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House on January 29, 2026 in Washington, DC. President Trump is holding the meeting as the Senate plans to hold a vote on a spending package to avoid another government shutdown, however Democrats are holding out for a deal to consider funding for the Department of Homeland Security. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)WASHINGTON (TNND) – During six and a half hours of indirect nuclear talks in Geneva Thursday, American and Iranian diplomats made "significant progress," according to the foreign minister of Oman, who mediated the negotiations. "We will resume soon after consultation in the respective capitals. Discussions on a technical level will take place next week in Vienna," Oman Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said in a statement.Vienna is the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is expected to play a more active role in the negotiations moving forward. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi assisted Oman in mediating Thursday's talks. Technical teams from each country are set to begin advance meetings Monday.The United States did not immediately comment on the progress of this third meeting, which was also the case following the first two. Thursday marked exactly one week since President Donald Trump said in 10 days he would likely decide between continuing talks or using military force against Iran.When talks wrapped Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi immediately spoke to Iranian state media, calling the day "long and intense." "We entered very seriously into the elements of an agreement, both in the nuclear field and in the sanctions field," Araghchi said. "On some issues, understanding has now been established, 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."Even if the U.S. and Iran manage to reach a nuclear deal that satisfies America's goal of preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and Iran's objective to see economic sanctions lifted, it may not be enough to prevent Trump from using the massive military presence he's built up in the Middle East in recent weeks because it's not solely Iran's nuclear program that concerns his administration. During his State of the Union address this week, Trump claimed Iran is working on missiles that could reach the United States, which Iran denied."It’s also important to remember that Iran refuses, refuses to talk about the ballistic missiles to us or to anyone and that’s a big problem," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday.Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee was part of a Gang of 8 briefing on Iran by Rubio earlier this week. Warner said he still doesn't "have the slightest idea what the president’s intentions are.”“If we are going in and changing the definition from precluding Iran from having nuclear weapons to saying no, we don’t even want Iran to have any missile capabilities at all, well that’s a different kind of argument and I’m not sure that argument has been made," Warner said. Warner said if Trump does order military action, he should first justify it to the rest of Congress and the American public, who he already told that U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last summer "obliterated Iran’s nuclear weapons program.” “What are his goals? Is it just the nuclear capabilities? Is it regime change? Is it simply support of our ally Israel?" Warner said. "He’s not made that case and yet, we have an awful lot of American sailors and airmen who are going to be in harm’s way if action takes place.”