Burak Bir
17 March 2026•Update: 17 March 2026
LONDON
The UK’s national security adviser, who attended the final talks between the US and Iran in Geneva, thought Tehran's offer on its nuclear program was significant enough to prevent a rush to war, according to a report Tuesday
Jonathan Powell believed progress had been made between the US and Iran in Switzerland and that the deal proposed by Iran was "surprising," the Guardian reported.
The US and Israel launched an attack on Iran two days after the talks ended, and after a date had been agreed for another round of technical talks in Vienna.
One source said Powell was in the building at Oman’s ambassadorial residence in Cologny acting as an adviser, reflecting widespread concern about the US expertise in the talks that was represented by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy.
"Jonathan thought there was a deal to be done, but Iran were not quite there yet, especially on the issue of UN inspections of its nuclear sites," a Western diplomat was quoted by the British newspaper.
A former official who was briefed on the Geneva talks by some of the participants said Witkoff and Kushner did not bring a US technical team so they used International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi as their technical expert, "but that is not his job. So Jonathan Powell took his own team."
"The UK team were surprised by what the Iranians put on the table," said the former official.
The official said the British team expected the next round of negotiations to go ahead on the basis of the progress in Geneva.
That next round of talks was due Monday, March 2 in Vienna, but never happened because the US and Israel launched an attack on Iran two days earlier on Feb. 28.
