To no one’s surprise, the talks between Iran and the United States that took place in Switzerland have stalled out again.

Iran is once again refusing to give up the nuclear program, but they keep claiming that everything is awesome and they are super-duper serious about getting a deal, so the United States delegation is going to have to come back to the table next week to hear whatever new promises they spin up like cotton candy – fluffy and insubstantial.

Thursday’s negotiations were “one of the most serious and longest rounds of talks,” according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry. Negotiators met for four hours in the morning and an additional two in the afternoon.

“During these long and intensive hours, we made good progress,” the ministry wrote on X following the talks, which Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi mediated.

U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and former adviser to President Donald Trump Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, represented the U.S. in Geneva, Switzerland. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi led the Iranian delegation.

The U.S. delegation was “disappointed” with progress after the morning block of negotiations, Axios reported.

Iran has long denied wanting a bomb and said earlier on Thursday it would show flexibility at the talks. Reuters reported on Sunday that Tehran was offering undefined new concessions in return for the removal of sanctions and recognition of its right to enrich uranium.

Any substantial move toward an elusive agreement between longtime foes Washington and Tehran could reduce the imminent prospects for Trump to carry out a threatened attack on Iran that many fear could escalate into a wider war.

“We seriously addressed the elements of an agreement, both in the nuclear field and in the area of sanctions,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry wrote on X, adding that Iran has “clearly outlined our expectations regarding the lifting of sanctions.”

Iranian negotiators get to continue their tour of Europe next week when they hold the next meeting in Vienna. Why does this feel like Iran is sending their officials for a vacation while jerking the United States’ chain?

Where Iran will again refuse to agree but promise to keep talking

The buying time charade is transparent https://t.co/j6uu9CJVHs

— Sunny (@sunnyright) February 26, 2026

Here is what we do know. First off, Iran wants to keep their uranium, and to keep enriching their uranium, which gives them the ability to quickly refine what they do have into bomb-grade material. Even the IAEA is admitting that they have zero idea of what Iran has, because they aren’t being allowed in.

Iran has prevented international inspectors from reaching three nuclear facilities struck by the US this past June, leaving the outside world unable to determine how much near-weapons-grade uranium the Islamic Republic posesses, according to a confidential report.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stressed to member states that it “cannot verify whether Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities,” nor can it provide “any information on the current size, composition or whereabouts of the stockpile of enriched uranium in Iran,” according to the Associated Press.

That “loss of continuity of knowledge over all previously declared nuclear material at affected facilities in Iran needs to be addressed with the utmost urgency,” added the IAEA, which noted that Iran’s stonewalling was in direct violation of its legal obligation under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Iran suspended all cooperation with the IAEA after its 12-day war with Israel in June 2025 — during which the US dropped at least six “bunker buster” bombs on nuclear sites at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz.

In the absence of access to those three sites, the nuclear agency has been forced to rely on commercially available satellite imagery.

This is not the move that a government desperate to make a deal to avoid getting bombed back into the Stone Age should be making. What intelligence does exist is making both sides of the aisle nervous. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has apparently been briefing congressional leaders about Iran, and warning about the threat that still exists.

Even Chuck Schumer didn’t have much to say after his briefing, which was frankly surprising.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer following Gang of Eight briefing on Iran:

Look, this is serious.

The administration has to make its case to the American people. pic.twitter.com/8HcYnvJOE2

— Clash Report (@clashreport) February 24, 2026

Now, this doesn’t mean Democrats are giving Trump a green light on Iran. What it does mean is that something is going on that is heightening the threat level, and even they are tacitly acknowledging that fact.

We also now know that Ambassador Mike Huckabee is telling the non-essential United States embassy employees in Jerusalem that they should be making plans to leave.

Those wishing to leave “should do so TODAY,” Mr. Huckabee wrote, urging them to find flights out of Ben-Gurion Airport to any destination for which they could book passage. “There is no need to panic,” he added, “but for those desiring to leave, it’s important to make plans to depart sooner rather than later.”

The email, which was verified by three people with knowledge of the matter, made no explicit mention of Iran. It followed meetings and phone calls through the night, Mr. Huckabee wrote to employees, and resulted from “an abundance of caution” and conversations with the State Department in which officials agreed that the safety of embassy staff was a priority.

The embassy’s move “will likely result in high demand for airline seats today,” he said in the email. “Focus on getting a seat to anyplace from which you can then continue travel to DC, but the first priority will be getting expeditiously out of country.”

He added that while there might be more outbound flights in the coming days, there also might not be.

In the email, Mr. Huckabee told embassy employees that the mission had shifted to an “authorized departure” footing as of 10 a.m. Friday. That allows nonessential personnel and their dependents to evacuate at the government’s expense when “U.S. national interests or imminent threat to life requires it,” according to State Department regulations.

Mr. Huckabee told embassy workers that he would hold a town-hall meeting to provide additional information at 12:30 p.m.

Later on Friday, the State Department announced that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would travel to Israel early next week to discuss Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza.

Does that mean that an attack is imminent? Probably not, but it might be getting closer. Will the United States wait until next week’s talks in Vienna, after talking in circles for how many weeks now? Who knows.

The Democrats are correct on one point, though – President Trump needs to make his case. Admittedly, without good information from sources like the IAEA (and if not them, other intelligence operations) this all may be a lot of guesswork. But the president has repeatedly said, even at the State of the Union, that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Trump has already laid out other red lines that Iran has run over, and thousands of Iranian civilians are dead at the hand of the regime. Iran does not care how many naval ships we position near them – the mullahs know the longer they stall, the better their chances for survival. If the United States does not strike, then the protesters are isolated and have no outside support. Trump told them that “help” was coming, but so far, nothing has. The email from Huckabee is the latest indicator that something is going to happen, but the president needs to put up or shut up. Something has to give, and another week of talks and Iranian negotiators getting to sample Viennese coffee isn’t going to do it.

Featured image via jorono on Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license