ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday he will meet with the UN nuclear watchdog chief and Omani and Swiss officials in Geneva, ahead of a second round of indirect nuclear talks with Washington a day later.

Tehran and Washington restarted indirect nuclear talks in Oman earlier this month. While the threat of military action lingers, both sides described the first round of negotiations as positive.

“Joined by nuclear experts, I will meet [International Atomic Energy Agency Director] Rafael M. Grossi on [Monday] for deep technical discussion. Also meeting [Omani Foreign Minister] Badr al-Busaidi ahead of diplomacy with US on [Tuesday],” Araghchi said on X.

Iranian state media reported earlier that the diplomacy chief will also meet with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and deliver a speech at the UN Conference on Disarmament during the trip.

Iran and the US held several rounds of indirect talks last year which came to a halt after Israel launched a full-fledged war against the Islamic republic, killing top brass military officials and nuclear scientists. The US later joined the attack by bombing key nuclear facilities across the country.

During the so-called “12-day war” in June, Israel and Iran traded salvos of drones and missiles.

Following the US airstrikes, Tehran suspended cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and has repeatedly criticized it for not condemning the attacks.

“After the 12-day war, the whole landscape of nuclear Iran has changed radically in terms of perhaps not capabilities, but in terms of actual physical infrastructure, which is basically no longer there or badly damaged,” IAEA chief Grossi said last week.

“We have returned to Iran, I should say, but we have been inspecting, if I can put it in simple terms, everything but the attacked facilities,” he added.

The US is sending the USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest aircraft carrier in the world, to the Middle East to back up the USS Abraham Lincoln which is already in the Gulf, AP reported Friday, citing a familiar source.

The US has repeatedly highlighted that a naval “armada” is in range of a possible attack on Iran and has threatened to intervene on behalf of Iranian protesters who are facing brutal crackdowns by authorities. On the other hand, Iran has cited its significant distrust in Washington as a major obstacle to reaching an agreement.

“I’d love to see if we could make a deal. But they have been difficult to make a deal. I thought we would have had a deal last time, they wish they did,” said US President Donald Trump Friday, noting that he expects a deal within the next month.

While Washington has repeatedly called for the full termination of Iran’s nuclear program, Tehran insists on its right to pursue the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

“I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal,” wrote Araghchi on X. “What is not on the table: submission before threats.”