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Iran Foreign Minister Says Progress Made in Nuclear Talks with US in Geneva

This photograph shows the Omani consulate general ahead of indirect nuclear talks between the United States and Iran in Geneva on February 17, 2026. (AFP)
This photograph shows the Omani consulate general ahead of indirect nuclear talks between the United States and Iran in Geneva on February 17, 2026. (AFP)
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Iran Foreign Minister Says Progress Made in Nuclear Talks with US in Geneva

This photograph shows the Omani consulate general ahead of indirect nuclear talks between the United States and Iran in Geneva on February 17, 2026. (AFP)
This photograph shows the Omani consulate general ahead of indirect nuclear talks between the United States and Iran in Geneva on February 17, 2026. (AFP)

Iran and the United States reached an understanding on Tuesday on main "guiding principles" in talks aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute, but that does not mean a deal is imminent, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said. 

Oil futures fell and the benchmark Brent crude contract tumbled more than 1% after Araqchi's comments, which helped ease fears of conflict in the region, where the US has deployed a battle force to press Tehran for concessions. 

"Different ideas have been presented, these ideas have been seriously discussed, ultimately we've been able to reach a general agreement on some guiding principles," Araqchi told Iranian media after the talks concluded in Geneva. 

BOTH SIDES HAVE 'CLEAR NEXT STEPS' 

The indirect discussions between US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside Araqchi, were mediated by Oman. The White House did not respond to emailed questions about the meeting. 

Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said in a post on X "much work is yet to be done" but Iran and the US were leaving with "clear ‌next steps" . 

Just as ‌talks began on Tuesday, Iranian state media said Iran would temporarily shut part of the Strait ‌of ⁠Hormuz, a vital global ⁠oil supply route, due to "security precautions" while Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards conducted military drills there. 

Tehran has in the past threatened to shut down the strait to commercial shipping if it is attacked, a move that would choke off a fifth of global oil flows and drive up crude prices. 

Responding to comments by Trump that "regime change" in Iran might be the best course, the country's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, 86, warned that any US attempts to depose his government would fail. 

"The US President says their army is the world's strongest, but the strongest army in the world can sometimes be slapped so hard it cannot get up," he said, in comments published by Iranian media. 

Speaking at a disarmament conference in Geneva after the talks, Araqchi said ⁠that a "new window of opportunity" had opened and that he hoped discussions would lead to a "sustainable" solution ‌that ensured the full recognition of Iran's legitimate rights. 

Earlier, Trump said he himself would ‌be involved "indirectly" in the Geneva talks and that he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal. 

"I don't think they want the consequences of not making ‌a deal," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday. "We could have had a deal instead of sending the B-2s in ‌to knock out their nuclear potential. And we had to send the B-2s." 

The US joined Israel last June in bombing Iranian nuclear facilities. The US and Israel believe Iran aspires to build a nuclear weapon that could threaten Israel's existence. Iran says its nuclear program is purely peaceful, even though it has enriched uranium far beyond the purity needed for power generation, and close to what is required for a bomb. 

IRAN SAYS IT WILL ONLY DISCUSS NUCLEAR PROGRAM 

Since those ‌strikes, Iran's Islamic rulers have been weakened by street protests, suppressed at a cost of thousands of lives, against a cost-of-living crisis driven in part by international sanctions that have strangled Iran's oil ⁠income. 

Washington has sought to expand ⁠the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues such as Iran's missile stockpile. Tehran says it is willing only to discuss curbs on its nuclear program - in exchange for sanctions relief - and that it will not give up uranium enrichment completely or discuss its missile program. 

Khamenei reiterated Iran's position that its large missile stockpile is non-negotiable and missile type and range have nothing to do with the United States. 

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday the success of the Geneva talks hinged on the US not making unrealistic demands and on its seriousness on lifting the crippling sanctions on Iran. 

US B-2 BOMBERS STRUCK NUCLEAR TARGETS 

Tehran and Washington were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks in June last year when Washington's ally Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran, and was then joined by US B-2 bombers that struck nuclear targets. Tehran has since said it has halted uranium enrichment activity. 

Iran has joined the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which guarantees countries the right to pursue civilian nuclear power in return for requiring them to forgo atomic weapons and cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. 

Israel, which has not signed the NPT, neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons, under a decades-old ambiguity policy designed to deter surrounding enemies. Scholars believe it does. 

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World

China Tells US Ready to Strengthen Cooperation

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a press conference after the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers Meeting in Beijing Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP)
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a press conference after the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers Meeting in Beijing Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP)
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China Tells US Ready to Strengthen Cooperation

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a press conference after the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers Meeting in Beijing Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP)
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a press conference after the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers Meeting in Beijing Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP)

China's top diplomat Wang Yi told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday Beijing was "willing to strengthen" cooperation with Washington, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

Wang and Rubio spoke by phone ahead of an expected meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the November 18-19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in China's Shenzhen.

The two countries reached an agreement to calm trade tensions during last year's APEC summit in South Korea after they had exchanged tariff escalations earlier in 2025.

"(China) is willing to strengthen communication and cooperation with the US," Wang told Rubio during a "constructive" call, the ministry said in a statement.

Wang added that the countries would support each other in hosting the 2026 APEC summit and G20 summit in the United States.

Beijing stands ready to "properly handle differences and sensitive issues" with Washington, Wang said, adding that "stability" in US-China ties had been "hard won".

Next week's APEC summit could also see a trilateral meeting with Trump, Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, after each country said they were in discussions about such talks.

Trump said Sunday he would likely be meeting Xi and Putin to discuss ending the Iran war.

World

Italy Evacuates Hundreds of Schools Due to Bomb Alert, with Threats in Scotland and Ireland

Policemen stand outside the "Virgilio" middle school after children have been evacuated due to a bomb alert, in Rome on November 11, 2026. (AFP)
Policemen stand outside the "Virgilio" middle school after children have been evacuated due to a bomb alert, in Rome on November 11, 2026. (AFP)
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Italy Evacuates Hundreds of Schools Due to Bomb Alert, with Threats in Scotland and Ireland

Policemen stand outside the "Virgilio" middle school after children have been evacuated due to a bomb alert, in Rome on November 11, 2026. (AFP)
Policemen stand outside the "Virgilio" middle school after children have been evacuated due to a bomb alert, in Rome on November 11, 2026. (AFP)

Italian authorities evacuated hundreds of schools Wednesday after an emailed bomb threat, the latest in a series of disruptions affecting European institutions following recent hoaxes aimed at airlines and broadcasters.

Schools in Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland received similar threats, but no evacuations were reported.

The Italian Education Ministry said the email threat was received by over 6,300 schools, but it was not immediately known how many had been evacuated.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said there was no indication of any “concrete danger” to schools and that the threats appeared aimed at “generating alarm and concern.” She said investigations were underway and that she had called a meeting of ministers for later Wednesday.

The anonymous email also threatened Meloni, according to copies obtained by Italian media, including the LaPresse news agency. She did not address the personal threat in her statement, and her office had no immediate comment.

The email purported to come from the leader of an otherwise unknown group with an anti-woman name and contained particularly violent threats. It was signed with the same Russian name used in last week’s threats against European broadcasters.

Authorities have not attributed the threats to any group or state, and no evidence has emerged linking the hoaxes to a government.

Threats reported in other countries

Police in Northern Ireland said they were conducting “urgent inquiries” after a threatening email was sent to hundreds of schools. Police in Scotland said they were treating similar messages as hoaxes and were not requiring schools to evacuate.

“Our assessment remains that they do not represent a credible threat,” Police Scotland said.

Police in Ireland also said they were aware of a “generic communication” sent to several educational institutions.

Rome students learn of threat after evacuation

“These are very delicate considerations, because there is always the risk that there is someone else behind the madman,” Italian Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara told reporters. “Given that so many schools are involved, the real risk is almost non-existent.”

At Rome’s Mamiani high school, students poured into the streets, mistaking the alarm for the recess bell. They learned of the bomb threat only after they were outside.

“They are saying it was a bomb alert because an email arrived from Russian hackers in which they said they would have killed everyone. It was pretty violent,” said Anita Bartocci, an 18-year-old student.

Hoax pattern emerges

Bomb threats targeted dozens of flights across Europe last week, following a string of hoaxes that forced flight diversions and left airlines scrambling to keep passengers safe and minimize disruption.

False bomb threats are relatively common, but so many in such a short period are unusual. No suspicious items were found and no one was injured. Still, the threats raised concerns because they followed other disruptions across Europe, including attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems and drone incursions.

Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said the emailed threats were aimed at “sowing terror, or creating concern.”

“It’s too easy. Any one of us can use the available means and instruments to send an email to a school, a daycare, an airline, saying that there’s a bomb,” Crosetto told reporters at an event Wednesday.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Saturday that his personal data had been leaked to the dark web, an encrypted part of the internet. PM Meloni blamed pro-Russian hackers.

The company overseeing construction of the Brenner Base Tunnel, which will connect Austria and Italy, also said over the weekend that it had been hacked last month.

World

World Leaders Urge Stronger and Faster Action at UN Climate Talks Over Inadequate Response

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plants an olive sapling ahead of the World Leaders Climate Action Summit at the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Türkiye. (Kiara Worth/UN Climate Change/dpa)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plants an olive sapling ahead of the World Leaders Climate Action Summit at the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Türkiye. (Kiara Worth/UN Climate Change/dpa)
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World Leaders Urge Stronger and Faster Action at UN Climate Talks Over Inadequate Response

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plants an olive sapling ahead of the World Leaders Climate Action Summit at the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Türkiye. (Kiara Worth/UN Climate Change/dpa)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plants an olive sapling ahead of the World Leaders Climate Action Summit at the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Türkiye. (Kiara Worth/UN Climate Change/dpa)

World leaders called for urgent and decisive action on global warming Wednesday as formal talks began at the United Nations climate conference in Türkiye, saying the crisis is disproportionately harming some of the world’s most vulnerable countries.

“You might as well bomb us. That might have been easier than watching climate change tear apart our homes piece by piece,” said Surangel Whipps Jr., president of the island nation of Palau. “We are at war with a crisis we did not create. A war no peace treaty can end, only urgent action can.”

The annual summit follows a year of deadly floods, heat waves and other disasters. Leaders said geopolitical conflicts had diverted attention from climate change.

Leaders of the world’s three biggest polluting nations — China, the United States and India, which together account for more than half of global carbon dioxide emissions — skipped the summit at COP31.

Their absence left a handful of national leaders and UN officials to press for action as a new report warned of a widening gap between countries’ climate pledges and actual emissions cuts.

Scientists say global warming is likely to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. Limiting warming to that threshold was a goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement and remains a focus of international negotiations.

“We know the truth. Now we must act on it because climate action is more than a fight over a number or a thermometer,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an opening speech. “We are in the fight for our lives and our children’s future.”

'Every fraction of a degree counts'

Guterres outlined a framework for climate negotiations, saying they must prioritize ending fossil fuel reliance, adapting to a warmer world, increasing financial support for poorer countries bearing the brunt of climate change, and promoting cooperation over conflict.

“We do not need countries to agree on everything. But we do need them to cooperate on the things no country can solve alone,” he said.

But addressing climate change has been overshadowed by wars, inflation and geopolitical conflicts, Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said. He pledged to protect the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, and urged world leaders to work together for a just, sustainable future.

“Brazil is back to defend the continuity of a healthy planet,” he said.

Micronesian President Wesley Simina said his country is already suffering irreversible losses of coral reefs that “protect our shores, sustain our fisheries, feed our families and carry the stories and traditions of our communities.”

He called climate change the “single greatest threat to the security, livelihoods, and well-being of Pacific peoples, but perhaps worse than what we’ve already experienced is what has yet to come” as temperatures continue to rise.

“Every fraction of a degree counts. Every fraction avoided reduces risk. Every year in which we can slow the rate of warming provides more time for adaptation and reduces the pressure on ecosystems that are approaching their limits,” he said. “This is why the world must act not only deeply, but quickly.”

Amy Pope, director general of the International Organization for Migration, called for more funding to help communities adapt to climate change and build resilience.

Climate change displaced almost 30 million people in 2025, while hundreds of millions more live in places unprepared to withstand future risks, Pope told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the summit.

“The issue that policymakers fail to understand is that making these investments in building resilience to climate in these vulnerable communities will actually save millions of dollars, millions of lives in the end,” she said.

Leaders of some major polluting nations absent

More than 70 world leaders and senior government officials are speaking at the summit, though what can be accomplished remains uncertain in the absence of leaders from key nations.

“It really is a disgrace that just one of the seven G7 heads of state and only a handful of G20 leaders are attending this summit,” said Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, a climate and energy think tank. “The world’s biggest economies should be leading the response to the climate crisis, not leaving it to others.”

The United States, the world’s second-largest polluter after China, is absent from the talks for the second consecutive year. President Donald Trump, who has called climate change a hoax, has targeted offshore wind projects and removed rules limiting power plant emissions.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attended, but many leaders of European countries stayed away.

“More than half of the top leaders of the EU countries are not showing up at the leaders’ summit,” Climate Action Network Europe Director Chiara Martinelli told The Associated Press. “If Europe wants to help steer the global transition, it needs to show up and be part of it.”

Conference colored by fears over speed of climate action

The gap between nations’ climate plans and action on the ground is widening, according to an annual climate change performance index published Wednesday by Germanwatch and the New Climate Institute.

“Overall, current collective efforts are not enough to prevent catastrophic climate change. But we see clear potential for improvement,” said Jan Burck of Germanwatch.

COP31 host Türkiye and Australia, which is leading the negotiations, ranked among the worst performers in curbing emissions.

The talks come as the war in Iran has driven up global prices for oil, gasoline and products such as fertilizers and pesticides, prompting governments to rethink energy policies and investment in renewable sources such as wind and solar.

Past talks have been criticized for producing promises that later went unfulfilled.

Delegates at the 2023 conference in Dubai agreed to transition away from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, the main drivers of climate change. But subsequent conferences in Azerbaijan and Brazil yielded little agreement on how to reduce their use. Last year’s conference in Brazil produced a compromise deal pledging more money to help vulnerable nations adapt to climate change.