The risk of war with Iran is growing despite talks

Current negotiations between Tehran and Washington are an opportunity – but a narrow one, surrounded by sharp edges

The resumption of contacts between Washington and Tehran in early February 2026 has reopened a narrow diplomatic corridor that many observers had already written off. The first indirect round in Muscat, mediated by Oman, produced the kind of cautious, mutually face-saving language that usually signals one thing more than any breakthrough.