Cyprus Times

US-Iran: Red Lines, Risks, and What's at Stake in Geneva

Published February 26, 2026, 17:06
US-Iran: Red Lines, Risks, and What's at Stake in Geneva

The United States hopes that ongoing talks with Iran in Geneva will lead to an agreement to curtail or reduce Iran's nuclear weapons program significantly below what existed under the 2015 Obama-era nuclear deal, as well as reduce the threat of Tehran's ballistic missile program. As highlighted by the Jerusalem Post, US President Donald Trump has deployed the largest concentration of American forces in the Middle East since 2003 to intensify pressure on the Islamic Republic to reach an agreement, with the question being whether the red lines of the two sides can overlap enough to avoid a wider war. Israel would only support an agreement that neutralizes both nuclear and ballistic missile threats, while Trump has shown willingness to reach a deal even if he fails to fully neutralize these threats, especially regarding ballistic missiles, if he can present his achievements as superior to those of Obama. Over the decades, Iran has developed an advanced and large-scale uranium enrichment program. While enriched uranium can be used as fuel in power plants at various levels of purity, at high levels it can be used to make nuclear weapons. Despite attacks on nuclear facilities in 2025, Iran still possesses significant quantities of enriched uranium, which it has buried under the rubble of the bombed facilities.