US Vice President JD Vance said some progress was made in the second round of nuclear talks with Tehran in Geneva on Tuesday, even as Hebrew media said Israeli officials think the indirect talks are likely doomed and that US President Donald Trump and his close advisers seek to strike Iran.
“In some ways it went well. They agreed to meet afterward,” Vance told Fox News of the Geneva round. “But in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.”
Among those red lines is that Iran must not obtain a nuclear weapon, said Vance, arguing that a nuclear Islamic Republic would lead to an arms race across the world that would be dangerous for America. While Iran claims it is not seeking nuclear arms, “there a number of things that make it clear that they are interested in acquiring a nuclear weapons,” said Vance.
“The president of the United States is very much trying to find a solution here, whether it’s through diplomatic options or through another option, that means the Iranians cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Vance said.
“We’re going to keep on working it, but of course, the president reserves the ability to say when he thinks that diplomacy has reached its natural end,” he said. “We hope we don’t get to that point, but if we do, that, will be the president’s call.”
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A US official, who declined to be identified, said Iran agreed Tuesday to make detailed proposals in the next two weeks to close gaps in the talks.
“Progress was made, but there are still a lot of details to discuss,” sayid the official. “The Iranians said they would come back in the next two weeks with detailed proposals to address some of the open gaps in our positions.”
The comments came after Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the Geneva talks “constructive” and said an understanding was reached on “guiding principles.”
Referring to Araghci’s upbeat assessment, a senior Israeli official quoted by Channel 13 news said that “our impression is that it’s a smokescreen” and that “the odds for a deal are low.”
A security official was also quoted by the network as saying it was “very soon” to declare the US and Iran had reached an agreement on curtailing the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi delivers a speech during a session of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, on the sideline of a second round of US-Iranian talks nuclear talks, in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 17, 2026. (Valentin Flauraud / AFP)
Meanwhile, Channel 12 news said in an unsourced report that Israel was preparing for the talks to collapse and that the White House gave Israel the impression that further progress in the negotiations was unlikely because the Iranians would not agree to Trump’s demands.
According to the network, Israeli officials assess that Trump and other top American officials want to attack Iran, and that the US president needs to show he has let the negotiations run their course in order lend legitimacy to a potential attack.
High-level Israeli consultations seek to prepare for the possibility that Iran will launch a preemptive strike, and reflect an understanding that Israel will find itself operating alongside the US in case Trump decides to attack Iran, Channel 12 said.
US sends dozens of fighter jets to region, flight trackers show
The negotiations began in Oman’s capital Muscat earlier this month amid a significant US military buildup in the region, which Trump has repeatedly threatened to use, first over Iran’s deadly crackdown on protesters last month and more recently over its nuclear program.
On Tuesday, as the US and Iranian negotiators met for the second time, open-source flight tracking data showed showed that the US military had moved dozens of fighter jets toward the Middle East over the past day.
The aircraft included F-22, F-35, and F-16 jets. Several refuelers were also spotted on the move, according to social media accounts dedicated to tracking military flights.
A US official also confirmed to the Axios news site that more than 50 fighter jets were moved to the region in the past 24 hours.
#USAF United States Air Force – Middle East Activity (Coronet)
17 February – 1129z
There are currently 36x F-16s and 12x F-22s on the move, or about to depart towards the Middle East. 12x F-16s each from Aviano and Spangdahlem in Europe, and 12x from McEntire Joint National… https://t.co/5OsSSHZVp3 pic.twitter.com/eZGqbqvnyg
— Armchair Admiral ???????? (@ArmchairAdml) February 17, 2026
Trump on Friday said regime change in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen” and confirmed sending a second aircraft carrier to the region “in case we don’t make a deal.” Ahead of the talks on Tuesday, he told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei retorted that “A warship is certainly a dangerous weapon, but even more dangerous is the weapon capable of sinking it.”
Washington has demanded Iran cease enrichment activities and relinquish its stockpile of uranium enriched to up to 60% fissile purity, a small step away from the 90% that is considered weapons grade.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an interview published Tuesday that Tehran is open to “verification” that it is not seeking an atomic weapon, but insisted that it has the right its nuclear program for peaceful purposes.
“We are absolutely not seeking nuclear weapons,” said Pezeshkian, citing Khamenei’s 2003 religious ruling that nuclear weapons were forbidden in Islam. “If anyone wants to verify this, we are open to such verification to take place.”
Iran whose leaders are sworn to Israel’s destruction, consistently denies seeking nuclear weapons, but has enriched uranium to levels with no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities.
Emanuel Fabian and agencies contributed to this report.
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