UK security adviser attended US-Iran talks and judged deal was within reach

Britain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, attended the final talks between the US and Iran and judged that the offer made by Tehran on its nuclear programme was significant enough to prevent a rush to war, the Guardian can reveal.

“Britain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, attended the final talks between the US and Iran and judged that the offer made by Tehran on its nuclear programme was significant enough to prevent a rush to war, the Guardian can reveal”

The Guardian

Powell thought progress had been made in Geneva in late February and that the deal proposed by Iran was "surprising", according to sources.

The Guardian

Two days after the talks ended, and after a date had been agreed for a further round of technical talks in Vienna, the US and Israel launched the attack on Iran.

Powell’s presence at the talks, and his close knowledge of how they were progressing, was confirmed by three sources.

Kushner and Witkoff had invited Rafael Grossi, the director general of the IAEA, to the Geneva talks, to provide technical expertise, though Kushner would later claim that he and Witkoff had "a pretty deep understanding of the issues that matter in this".

Powell’s attendance at the Geneva talks, and at earlier meetings in the Swiss city, helps explain the UK government’s reluctance to back the US attack on Iran, a reluctance that has put the UK-US relationship under unprecedented strain.

Britain saw no compelling evidence of an imminent Iranian missile threat to Europe, or of Iran securing a nuclear weapon.

The Guardian

This is the first time it has become clear that Britain was so closely involved in the talks, and so had good reason to decide whether diplomatic options had been exhausted and a US attack was necessary.

Instead the UK regarded the attack as unlawful and premature since Powell believed the path remained open to a negotiated solution to the long-running issue of how Iran could reassure the US that it was not seeking a nuclear weapon.

Downing Street declined to comment on Powell’s presence at the Geneva talks or his view of them.

Iran had down-blended the 400kg stockpile of highly enriched uranium under the supervision of the IAEA inside Iran and agreed no stockpiles of highly enriched uranium would be built up in the future.

“Britain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, attended the final talks between the US and Iran and judged that the offer made by Tehran on its nuclear programme was significant enough to prevent a rush to war, the Guardian can reveal”

The Guardian

In the final session of the talks, Iran agreed to a three- to five-year pause on domestic enrichment, but the US in the afternoon session, after consultations with Trump, demanded a 10-year pause.

Iran had also made an offer of what the mediators described as an economic bonanza, with the US being given the chance to participate in a future civil nuclear programme.

In return, nearly 80% of the economic sanctions on Iran would have been lifted, including assets frozen in Qatar, a demand Iran made in the 2025 talks.

The Oman mediator believed the offer of zero stockpiling of highly enriched uranium was a breakthrough that meant an agreement was within reach.

Accounts differ on whether Kushner left the talks giving the impression Trump would welcome what had been agreed, or that the US negotiators knew it would take something massive to persuade Trump that war was not the best option.

One diplomat with knowledge of the talks said: 'We regarded Witkoff and Kushner as Israeli assets that dragged a president into a war he wants to get out of.'

The Guardian’s report that Powell was in the room during the talks was cited in parliament on Tuesday by Liz Saville Roberts, an MP for Plaid Cymru, during an update by Britain’s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper.

The Guardian

'Does she therefore believe a negotiated path between Iran and the US was still possible at that time and, if so, surely that means that the initial US and Israeli strikes were premature and illegal?' Cooper responded: 'The UK did provide support for negotiations and diplomatic processes around the nuclear discussions. We did think that was an important track and we did want it to continue. That is one of the reasons for the position we took on the initial US strikes that took place.'