US, Iran to hold more nuclear talks as Tehran closes Strait of Hormuz – National
The US and Iran held their second round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program on Tuesday in Geneva as Iran said it would close the Strait of Hormuz for several hours for live military tests and the United States to beef up its forces in the region.
As the talks began, Iranian media announced that Iran had fired live missiles into the Strait of Hormuz, saying it would close the Strait for several hours “due to security and maritime concerns.”
It is the first time Iran has closed parts of the Strait, a key international waterway, since the US began threatening Iran militarily. Iran on Monday announced naval exercises in waterways that are important routes for international trade through which 20 percent of the world’s oil passes. Iran previously held a ceasefire in the Strait of Hormuz several weeks ago but did not announce the closure.
The official Tasnim news agency, which is close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said missiles launched inside Iran and off its coast had hit its missiles in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran state TV later reported that the latest round of talks lasted about three hours.
Another round of indirect remarks
Iranian state TV reported on Tuesday that talks with the US would be indirect and would focus only on Iran’s nuclear program, not domestic policies including the bloody crackdown on protesters last month.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to force Iran to agree to suppress its nuclear program. Iran said it would respond with its own attack. Trump has also threatened Iran over its deadly attacks on recent protests across the country.
The first round of negotiations on 6 Feb. it was held in Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, and they were not specific. Similarly in the last round of talks, the Iranians were seen meeting with Omani mediators separately from the Americans on Tuesday.
Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner attended the new round of talks.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is leading Iran’s negotiators, met with the head of the UN nuclear watchdog on Monday in Geneva.
Get the latest country news
For news that affects Canada and the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you as they happen.
“I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable agreement,” Araghchi wrote about X. “Off the table: moving ahead of threats.”
Speaking to reporters on Monday night aboard Air Force One headed to Washington, US President Donald Trump said he plans to engage in negotiations, at least indirectly. “I think they want to make a deal. I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal,” he said.
The US is also hosting talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday, days before Russia’s fourth attack on its neighbor.
Iran fires missiles into the Strait of Hormuz by piercing them
Iran announced that the Revolutionary Guard began polling early Monday in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, which are important routes for international shipping. It was the second time in recent weeks that Iran has conducted a ceasefire in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei added his warnings to the US about military buildup in the Middle East.
“Yes, a warship is a dangerous weapon, but more dangerous than a warship is a weapon that can sink a warship in the depths of the sea,” Khamanei said, Iranian state TV reported.
He also warned the US that “forcing the outcome of the negotiations early is a wrong and foolish exercise.”
The US is increasing its military presence
Last week, Trump said the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was being sent from the Caribbean Sea to the Mideast to join other US warships and military equipment built in the region.
The Ford, first reported by the New York Times, will join the USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying guided-missile destroyers, which have been in the region for two weeks. The US military has already shot down an Iranian plane bound for Lincoln on the same day last week when Iran tried to stop a ship that had been sunk by the US in the Strait of Hormuz.
Gulf Arab countries have warned any attack could escalate into another regional conflict in the Mideast that continues with the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The Trump administration is seeking a deal to curtail Iran’s nuclear program and ensure it does not develop nuclear weapons. Iran says it does not pursue weapons and has so far resisted demands that it halt uranium enrichment or give up its uranium supply.
The US and Iran were in the middle of months of meetings when Israel launched a 12-day war against Iran back in June and suspended negotiations. The US bombed Iranian nuclear sites during that war, nearly destroying many of the centrifuges that produced uranium approaching weapons-grade purity. The Israeli attack destroyed Iran’s air defenses and targeted its ballistic missiles.
Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Before the June war, Iran was enriching uranium to 60 percent purity, which is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade standards.
Iran is marking 40 days since the deadliest part of the protests
Iran is celebrating 40 days, a period of traditional Muslim mourning, since it was one of the deadliest days of the protests that swept the country last month. Activists say at least 7,015 people have been killed, most of them in the bloodshed between January 8 and 9.
The US-based Center for Human Rights Activists, which provided the latest figures, is accurate in its count of deaths during Iran’s past unrest and relies on a network of activists in the country to confirm the deaths.
The Associated Press was unable to independently verify the death toll, as authorities disrupted internet and international phone access to Iran.
Iran’s state news agency said the government would hold a 40-day commemoration at the Grand Mosalla Mosque in Tehran, and blamed the protests on “violent actions by armed groups allegedly directed by foreign intelligence agencies.”
© 2026 The Canadian Press
