• Iran’s deputy FM says ready to reach agreement as soon as possible.
• We will do whatever it takes to make this happen: Takht-Ravanchi
• Talks between Iran and US set to take place on Thursday in Geneva.
  

DUBAI: Iran is ready to take any necessary steps to reach a deal with the United States, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on Tuesday, as the two countries prepare for a fresh round of talks.

The talks are set to take place on Thursday in Geneva, a senior US official said on Monday, with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner slated to meet with an Iranian delegation for the negotiations.

The two countries resumed negotiations earlier this month as the US builds up its military capability in the Middle East. Iran has threatened to strike US bases in the region if it is attacked.

“We are ready to reach an agreement as soon as possible. We will do whatever it takes to make this happen. We will enter the negotiating room in Geneva with complete honesty and good faith,” Takht-Ravanchi said in comments carried by state media.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump’s first option was always diplomacy but that he was willing to use lethal force if necessary.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday that Tehran would seriously consider a combination of sending half of its most highly enriched uranium abroad, diluting the rest and taking part in creating a regional enrichment consortium – an idea periodically raised during years of Iran-linked diplomacy.

Iran would do this in return for US recognition of Iran’s right to “peaceful nuclear enrichment” under a deal that would also include lifting economic sanctions, the official said.

“If there is an attack or aggression against Iran, we will respond according to our defence plans… A US attack on Iran is a real gamble,” Takht-Ravanchi added.

Indirect talks between the two sides last year brought no agreement, primarily due to friction over a US demand that Iran forgo uranium enrichment on its soil, which Washington views as a pathway to a nuclear bomb.

Iran has always denied seeking such weapons.

The US joined Israel in hitting Iranian nuclear sites last June, effectively curtailing Iran’s uranium enrichment, with Trump saying its key nuclear sites were “obliterated”. But Iran is still believed to possess stockpiles enriched previously, which Washington wants it to relinquish.

US President Donald Trump says he should get the Nobel Peace Prize after wading into eight conflicts since taking office last January. But the issues that caused many remain unresolved and conflict has flared again in some of the regions, including the Democratic Republic of Congo and along the border between Cambodia and Thailand.

Here are some of the international disputes where Trump has intervened:

Armenia and Azerbaijan

Trump brought together the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on August 8 last year to sign a joint declaration pledging to seek peaceful relations between nations that have been at odds since the late 1980s.

“I got to know them through trade,” Trump said later in a radio interview. “I was dealing with them a little bit, and I said, ‘Why you guys fighting?’ Then I said, ‘I’m not going to do a trade deal if you guys are going to fight. It’s crazy.'”

The two countries had committed to a ceasefire in 2023. In March, they said they had agreed on the text of a draft peace agreement, but that deal has not been signed.

The subsequent White House-brokered declaration falls short of a formal peace treaty that would place legally binding obligations on both sides. Issues remain, including whether an agreement requires Armenia to revise its constitution.

The leaders struck economic agreements with Washington that granted the US development rights to a strategic transit corridor through southern Armenia.

The Trump administration said this would allow for more energy exports. In documents released at the time, the corridor was named after Trump. US Vice President JD Vance visited both countries in February, signing a strategic partnership with Azerbaijan and a nuclear deal with Armenia.

Cambodia and Thailand

Tensions remain between Thailand and Cambodia despite the fragile ceasefire earlier brokered in part by Trump.

The US president had helped bring Thailand to the table for talks after long-simmering tensions with Cambodia spilled over in July into a five-day military conflict, the deadliest fighting between the two in more than a decade.

Trump had reached out to then-acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai two days after fighting erupted along a stretch of the border. Trump withheld trade deals with both countries until the conflict ended.

The US president oversaw the signing of a ceasefire deal between the two countries in Malaysia in October, which broke down within a matter of weeks before a new ceasefire was reached on December 27.

Israel, Iran and the Palestinian territories

Trump chaired the first meeting of his Board of Peace initiative on Thursday, as part of a bid to direct a deal aimed at ending conflict in — and redeveloping — Gaza.

Israel and Hamas agreed in October to the first phase of a Trump-brokered hostage and ceasefire deal. Hostilities have continued.

But the agreement nonetheless marked a major step forward for efforts to end a two-year war in Gaza in which more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed. Under the deal, Hamas handed over hostages. Both, however, have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce.

Both sides remain far apart on major issues, including Hamas’ disarmament, the governance of post-war Gaza and the composition and mandate of an international security force in the enclave.

The US president has also been working to expand the Abraham Accords, an initiative from his first term aimed at normalising diplomatic ties between Israel and Arab nations.

The Republican initially pursued talks with Iran over its nuclear programme. Israel launched an aerial war on Iran on June 13 and pressed Trump to join in. He did on June 22, bombing Iranian nuclear sites. He then pressed Israel and Iran to join a ceasefire that Qatar mediated.

Trump said at the time that Iran’s key nuclear sites were obliterated and disputed reports that the programme had merely been set back.

But in recent weeks, Trump has threatened Iran over nuclear programme. He has ordered a huge buildup of forces in the Middle East and preparations for a potential multi-week air attack on the country.

Rwada and Democratic Republic of the Cango

The Rwanda-backed rebel group M23 staged a lightning offensive this year and now holds more territory than ever in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Its recent advances have stirred fears of further regional spillover of fighting.

Under pressure from Trump, Rwanda and Congo signed a US-brokered peace agreement on June 27. It hasn’t been implemented.

Trump brought the leaders of Congo and Rwanda to a Washington event on December 4 at a peace institute that his administration unofficially renamed in honour of the US president. There, they signed more documents affirming their commitment to Trump’s peace plan.

But the fighting has continued. Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has said that Rwanda is violating its commitments, as has US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rwanda has long denied backing M23, but UN experts and Congolese leaders disagree. Qatar has brokered separate talks between Congo and M23.

Meanwhile, the leader of a Congolese rebel coalition that includes the M23 group has said a deal on critical minerals signed in December between Congo and Washington was unconstitutional, raising doubts about its implementation.

The insurgency is the latest episode in a decades-old conflict with roots in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Trump has warned of “very severe penalties, financial and otherwise” if the agreement is violated. The US is seeking access to Congo’s vast array of critical minerals as it competes with China for control of natural resources.

Pakistan and India

US officials worried conflict could spiral out of control when nuclear-armed India and Pakistan clashed in May following an attack in India that Delhi blamed on Islamabad without providing any concrete evidence.

Consulting with Trump, Rubio and Vance pushed Indian and Pakistani officials to de-escalate the situation.

A ceasefire was announced on May 10 after four days of fighting. But it addressed few of the issues that have divided India and Pakistan, which have fought three major wars since their independence from the United Kingdom in 1947.

Days after the ceasefire, Trump said he used the threat of cutting trade with the countries to secure the deal. India disputed that US pressure led to the truce and that trade was a factor.

Egypt and Ethiopia

Egypt and Ethiopia have a long dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Cairo regards as a national security issue and fears will threaten its Nile River water supplies.

“We’re working on that one problem, but it’s going to get solved,” Trump said in July.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt later included Egypt and Ethiopia in a list of conflicts that “the president has now ended.”

It is unclear what Trump is doing on the issue, though he has said he wants to bring the parties together for talks. In public comments, Trump has largely echoed Cairo’s concerns.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed opened the dam in September despite objections from both Sudan and Egypt. Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has vowed to protect his own country’s interests.

Serbia and Kosovo

Kosovo and Serbia maintain tense relations five years after agreements Trump brokered with both during his first term to improve their economic ties.

Without providing evidence, Trump said in June he “stopped” war between the countries during his first term and that “I will fix it, again,” in his second.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008, almost a decade after Nato bombed Serb forces during a 1998-1999 counter-insurgency war.

But Serbia still regards Kosovo as an integral part of its territory. The countries have signed no peace deal.

Kosovo’s prime minister, Albin Kurti, has sought to extend government control over the north, where about 50,000 ethnic Serbs live, many of whom refuse to recognise Kosovo’s independence.

Kosovo’s president, Vjosa Osmani, said in July that over “the last few weeks,” Trump had prevented further escalation in the region. She did not elaborate, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic denied that any escalation had been looming.

Russia and Ukraine

Trump, who said during the 2024 presidential campaign that he could solve the war in Ukraine in one day, has so far been unable to end the nearly four-year-old conflict that analysts say has left more than 1 million people dead or wounded.

“I thought this was going to be one of the easier ones,” Trump said on August 18. “It’s actually one of the most difficult.”

Trump’s views on how to best bring peace have swung from calling for a ceasefire to saying a deal could still be worked out while fierce fighting continued. He imposed sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil companies in October.

More recently, Trump has attempted to press Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy into accepting a deal to end the war that European leaders worry would favour Moscow and destabilise the continent. Talks in recent days have produced few signs of progress.

South Korea and North Korea

Trump has said he wants to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and make another push towards peace.

“We’ll come back, and we’ll, at some point in the not-too-distant future, meet with North Korea,” Trump told reporters in October on a trip to South Korea.

Trump and Kim held three summits during Trump’s 2017-2021 first term. They also exchanged several letters that Trump called “beautiful” before the unprecedented diplomatic effort broke down over US demands that Kim give up his nuclear weapons.

North Korea has surged ahead with more and bigger ballistic missiles, expanded its nuclear weapons facilities, and gained new support from its neighbours in the years since. In his second term, Trump has acknowledged that North Korea is a “nuclear power.”

Kim said in September that there was no reason to avoid talks with Washington if it dropped its demands that his country give up nuclear weapons. Trump agreed to support Seoul’s pursuit of a nuclear-powered submarine for its own defence.

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is re-elected by Congress as the General Secretary of the country’s ruling Workers’ Party for the third time.

State media reported on Monday that Kim, 42, was reelected to the top post with delegates at the Congress crediting him for bolstering the country’s nuclear arsenal and strengthening its regional standing.

Kim has created a military capable of handling “any threat of aggression” and “any form of war,” the Congress announced, adding that his brave leadership is “reliably guaranteeing” the country’s future and “boosting the pride and self-esteem” of North Koreans.

Kim was reelected as General Secretary of North Korea’s Workers’ Party with the “unshakable will and unanimous desire” of thousands of delegates on the fourth day of meetings Sunday, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) announced. He has held the party’s top post since 2016.

The Congress is held every five years to elect the general secretary to serve as the party’s top representative and leader.

Kim is expected to announce his major policies on the military, diplomacy, the economy, and other areas for the next five years at the Congress, which kicked off last Thursday.

Western political analysts believe Kim will likely use the assembly as a platform from which he will announce the nation’s new military goals, including strengthening conventional forces and integrating them with nuclear capabilities. He will also likely announce a new plan for economic “self-reliance” through mass mobilization, following gradual post-pandemic gains fueled by rebounding trade with China and arms exports to Russia.

In the meantime, Kim’s government has rejected dialogue offers from US President Donald Trump since the American president began his second term, urging Washington to drop its demand for North Korea’s denuclearization as a precondition for talks. Kim has declared the war-divided South Korea a permanent enemy of the North as long as it is under US influence.