US envoys “disappointed” by Iran during morning session of talks: Axios

• While White House envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were initially "disappointed" by the morning session according to Axios, the evening concluded with Omani mediators reporting "significant progress" and "unprecedented openness" to creative solutions.
• Following consultations in their respective capitals, the two sides will move to negotiations on a technical level in Vienna next week, a critical step in a "last-ditch" effort to meet President Trump’s 15-day deadline and avoid regional war.

White House envoys Kushner and Witkoff were "disappointed" by what they heard from the Iranians in the morning negotiations session during the nuclear talks in Geneva, Axios reported on Thursday, citing sources.

Just now, the second evening session was concluded, with Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi saying "significant progress” was achieved during the day.

He added that talks will resume “soon” after “consultation in the respective capitals” with discussions on a technical level to take place next week in Vienna.

The talks are a last-ditch bid to avert war under the shadow of the biggest American military build-up in the Middle East in decades.

The Oman-mediated discussions follow repeated threats from Donald Trump to strike Iran, with the US president last Thursday giving Tehran 15 days to reach a deal.

While Iran has insisted the discussions focus solely on its nuclear programme, the US wants Tehran's missile programme and its support for armed groups in the region curtailed.

Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said after the morning session that the two sides expressed "unprecedented openness to new and creative ideas and solutions".

UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi joined the negotiations.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Trump's negotiating team would demand that Iran dismantle its three main nuclear sites and hand over all its remaining enriched uranium to the United States.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian insisted ahead of the talks that the Islamic republic was not "at all" seeking a nuclear weapon.

As part of the dramatic US build-up, the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, sent to the Mediterranean this week, left a naval base in Crete on Thursday.

Washington currently has more than a dozen warships in the Middle East: one aircraft carrier -- the USS Abraham Lincoln -- nine destroyers and three other combat ships.

It is rare for there to be two US aircraft carriers, which carry dozens of warplanes and are crewed by thousands of sailors, in the region.

The developments follow massive protests in Iran that rights groups say saw thousands of demonstrators killed.