We use essential cookies and third-party cookies for content.

The National Times - Iran urges US to drop 'excessive demands' to reach deal

Iran urges US to drop 'excessive demands' to reach deal

ECONOMY 27.02.2026
Iran urges US to drop 'excessive demands' to reach deal
Iran urges US to drop 'excessive demands' to reach deal / Photo: © AFP

Iran said Friday that in order to reach a deal, the United States will have to drop its "excessive demands", tempering the optimism expressed after talks seen as a last-ditch bid to avert war.

Change text size:

The Oman-mediated talks follow repeated threats from President Donald Trump to strike Iran, and with the United States conducting its biggest military build-up in the region in decades.

Trump on February 19 gave Iran 15 days to reach a deal, and while Iran has insisted the discussions focus solely on its nuclear programme, the US wants Tehran's missile programme and its support for militant groups curtailed.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Trump's negotiating team would demand that Iran dismantle its three main nuclear sites and hand over all its remaining enriched uranium to the United States.

Without specifying what demands he was referring to, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday told his Egyptian counterpart that "success in this path requires seriousness and realism from the other side and avoidance of any miscalculation and excessive demands".

Following the talks in Geneva on Thursday, Araghchi told state TV that the negotiations "made very good progress and entered into the elements of an agreement very seriously, both in the nuclear field and in the sanctions field".

He said the next round would take place in "perhaps less than a week", with technical talks at the UN's nuclear agency to begin in Vienna on Monday

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi also announced technical discussions were to be held next week in Vienna.

"We have finished the day after significant progress in the negotiation between the United States and Iran," he said in a post on X.

Araghchi, in a post on X, called the latest round of talks "the most intense so far".

"It concluded with the mutual understanding that we will continue to engage in a more detailed manner on matters that are essential to any deal -- including sanctions termination and nuclear-related steps," he wrote.

UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi joined the negotiations, a source close to the talks told AFP.

- 'Big lies' -

US President Donald Trump said in his State of the Union address that Iran had "already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they're working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America".

He also accused Iran of "pursuing sinister nuclear ambitions", though Tehran has always insisted its programme is for civilian purposes.

The accusations were delivered in the same forum in which then-president George W. Bush laid out the case for the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The Iranian foreign ministry called these claims "big lies".

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Iran is "not enriching right now, but they're trying to get to the point where they ultimately can", adding that Tehran "refuses" to discuss its ballistic missile programme and "that's a big problem".

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian insisted ahead of the talks that the Islamic republic was not "at all" seeking a nuclear weapon.

US Vice President JD Vance told the Washington Post on Thursday there was "no chance" that a long-threatened strike on Iran would result "in a Middle Eastern war for years with no end in sight".

Parallel to the talks is a dramatic US military buildup in the region, with the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, sent to the Mediterranean this week.

Washington currently has more than a dozen warships in the Middle East: one aircraft carrier -- the USS Abraham Lincoln -- nine destroyers and three other combat ships.

It is rare for there to be two US aircraft carriers in the region.

The maximum range of Iran's missiles is 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles), according to what Tehran has publicly disclosed.

However, the US Congressional Research Service estimates they top out at about 3,000 kilometres -- less than a third of the distance to the continental United States.

A previous attempt at negotiations collapsed when Israel launched strikes on Iran last June, beginning a 12-day war that the US briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.

Protests have since resumed around Iranian universities.

W.Baxter--TNT

Featured

The "Everlasting Battery" Inside Your Joints:UConn Professor's Self-Powered Healing Material just Got Acquired

A material that turns your own movement into medicine has just landed a corporate home. PetVivo Holdings (OTCQX: PETV), a veterinary biotech and biomedical device company focused on treating osteoarthritis in dogs and horses, has acquired PiezoBioMembrane (PBM) — a startup built around a biodegradable implant that generates electricity from the everyday force of a joint in motion, and uses that charge to help regrow cartilage from the inside out. The material is the invention of Thanh Nguyen, a professor of mechanical engineering in UConn's College of Engineering, who founded PBM in 2021 to advance new implementation methods for his work with piezoelectric materials — substances that convert mechanical force into electrical energy. These materials are typically ceramics: hard, brittle, and poorly suited for medical use. But Nguyen's lab developed new forms that are so , flexible, and biodegradable, breaking down naturally within the body over time. wound healing, The materials have already shown strong potential across a range of medical applications, including tissue regeneration, implanted force sensors, and targeted drug delivery in tumor treatment. How It Works biodegradable ultrasound for In the case of arthritis, Nguyen explains, the piezoelectric materials function as an off-the-shelf product that can be implanted or injected directly into the ailing joint — with no drugs, chemicals, or cells required. The everyday force exerted on the joint generates a small electrical charge, which helps regrow healthy cartilage, mimicking the body's natural use of electricity to regenerate tissue. "The body can be electrically stimulated to regrow," Nguyen says. PBM's materials "act like a battery — an everlasting battery that works whenever there is a force applied, and vanishes safely inside the body over time." PetVivo's Vision for the Acquisition PetVivo Holdings CEO John Lai expressed enthusiasm for the merger's potential to improve the lives of companion animals globally. "PBM has developed a compelling functional biomaterials platform with the potential to support the development of multiple medical device and therapeutic product lines across both human and animal health markets," Lai said in a press release. "By combining PBM's scientific innovation with PetVivo's product development capabilities, commercialization experience, regulatory expertise, and public company infrastructure, we believe we can accelerate theadvancement of technologies that may serve as the foundation for numerous future products and strategic opportunities." For Nguyen, the deal is a chance to scale technology that could eventually benefit both animals and people. "PetVivo is an animal health company, but they do have a big passion: pushing the technology towards clinical trials for human use," Nguyen says. "That aligned perfectly with my passion for developing technology that has an impact on human life. That is why I am excited about this merger, which facilitates my passion." A Track Record of Innovation Nguyen's research sits at the intersection of medicine, micro/nanotechnology, and biomaterials. His inventions have earned him publications in prominent scientific journals and media coverage from outlets including NPR. Nguyen founded PBM during the COVID-19 pandemic, a er realizing the material he had developed could be used to create an especially effective, biodegradable face mask — one where the mechanical force of breathing generated an electrical charge that provided an extra layer of protection against viruses. PBM is not Nguyen's only venture in the acquisition pipeline. His other startup, Single-Time Microneedles (STM), is also currently undergoing an acquisition process. STM has pioneered stable, efficient vaccine delivery technology in the form of an adhesive patch. shelfNguyen's focus on biodegradable materials has translated into a remarkably diverse range of medical applications. He has received five R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supporting research in cartilage regeneration, bone regeneration, HIV antibody delivery systems, and biodegradable ultrasound technology to boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy for brain cancer. "Whatever we are working on, we want to show that it works very well in vitro and in vivo," Nguyen says. "Then, when we are at the point of commercialization, we set up a startup or license the technology — or maybe team up with an industry partner." Thanh Nguyen is a professor of mechanical engineering in UConn's College of Engineering. (Courtesy of Thanh Nguyen

Octrado introduces its proprietary trading offering: "Your Skill. Our Capital"

Infrastructure, transparent rules and clear legal boundaries positioned as the core of the funded-account model

Could gas prices return to 2022 highs on US-Iran war?

European gas prices have more than doubled owing to the US-Iran war, just as Europe needs to replenish its reserves ahead of winter.

CapTLX Expands Institutional-Oriented Platform for Access to U.S. Capital Markets

CapTLX, the securities trading and investment platform operated by CHAINLION TECH LTD, today announced the continued expansion of its technology infrastructure for qualified investors and institutional market participants seeking structured access to U.S. equity and private capital markets.

Change text size: