Iran fires live missiles into Strait of Hormuz in drill as a new round
of nuclear talks begins
[February 17, 2026]
By JAMEY KEATEN and STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN
GENEVA (AP) — The U.S. and Iran are holding their second round of talks
about Iran’s nuclear program Tuesday in Geneva as the United States
ramps up its military presence in the Middle East and Iran holds
large-scale maritime exercises.
As the talks began, Iranian media announced that Iran had fired live
missiles towards the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had announced a maritime
military exercise on Monday in waterways that are crucial international
trade routes through which 20% of the world’s oil passes.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is close to the paramilitary
Revolutionary Guard, said missiles launched inside Iran and along its
coast had struck their targets in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state TV reported Tuesday that the negotiations with the U.S.
will be indirect and will focus only on Iran’s nuclear program, not
domestic policies including its bloody crackdown on protesters last
month.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to
compel Iran to agree to constrain its nuclear program. Iran has said it
would respond with an attack of its own. Trump has also threatened Iran
over its deadly crackdown on recent nationwide protests.
The first round of talks Feb. 6 were held in Oman, a sultanate on the
eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, and were indirect, with SUVs
flying the American flag entering the palace venue only after it
appeared the Iranian officials had left. The arrangements for Tuesday's
round of negotiations were not clear.
Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were traveling for the
new round of talks. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, visiting
Budapest, Hungary, said Monday that the U.S. hopes to achieve a deal
with Iran, despite the difficulties. “I’m not going to prejudge these
talks,” Rubio said. “The president always prefers peaceful outcomes and
negotiated outcomes to things.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is leading the talks for
Iran, met with the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency Monday in
Geneva.
“I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal,”
Araghchi wrote on X. “What is not on the table: submission before
threats.”
Talking to reporters Monday night aboard Air Force One on his way to
Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump said of the U.S.-Iran talks,
“I’ll be involved in those talks -- indirectly -- and they’ll be very
important, and we’ll see what can happen.”
“Typically, Iran’s a very tough negotiator,” he said, first describing
Iran as “good negotiators” before correcting himself. “I would say
they’re bad negotiators, because we could have had a deal instead of
sending the B2s in to knock out their nuclear potential, and we had to
send the B2s. I hope they’re going to be more reasonable.”
Trump added: “I think they want to make a deal. I don’t think they want
the consequences of not making a deal.”
The U.S. is also hosting talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine in
Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday, days ahead of the fourth anniversary of
the all-out Russian invasion of its neighbor.
Iran marks 40 days since deadliest part of protest crackdowns
Iran is marking 40 days, the traditional Muslim mourning period, since
one of the deadliest days in the crackdown on protests that swept the
country last month. Activists say at least 7,015 people have been
killed, many in a bloody crackdown overnight between Jan. 8 and 9.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which offered the
latest figures, has been accurate in counting deaths during previous
rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists in the
country to verify deaths.
The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death
toll, given authorities have disrupted internet access and international
calls in Iran.
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In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, right, and International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi, left, hold a
meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (Iranian
Foreign Ministry via AP)
Iran’s state news agency said the government would hold a memorial
marking 40 days at the Grand Mosalla mosque in Tehran, and blamed
the demonstrations on “violent actions by armed groups allegedly
directed by foreign intelligence agencies.”
Iran holds naval drills against the US military buildup
Iran announced that its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard started a
drill early Monday morning in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf
and the Gulf of Oman, waterways that are crucial international trade
routes through which 20% of the world’s oil passes.
Separately, EOS Risk Group said sailors passing through the region
received a radio warning that the northern lane of the Strait of
Hormuz, in Iranian territorial waters, likely would see a live-fire
drill Tuesday. Iranian state TV did not mention the live-fire drill.
It was Iran's second warning in recent weeks about a live-fire
drill.
Last week, Trump said the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest
aircraft carrier, was being sent from the Caribbean Sea to the
Mideast to join other warships and military assets the U.S. has
built up in the region.
The Ford, whose new deployment was first reported by The New York
Times, will join the USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying
guided-missile destroyers, which have been in the region for over
two weeks. U.S. forces already have shot down an Iranian drone that
approached the Lincoln on the same day last week that Iran tried to
stop a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another
regional conflict in a Mideast still reeling from the Israel-Hamas
war in the Gaza Strip.
Iran says any deal must include easing of punishing sanctions
The Trump administration is seeking a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear
program and ensure it does not develop nuclear weapons. Iran says it
is not pursuing weapons and has so far resisted demands that it halt
uranium enrichment or hand over its supply of uranium.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi signaled that
Tehran could be open to compromise on the nuclear issue, but is
looking for an easing of international sanctions led by the United
States.
“The ball is in America’s court. They have to prove they want to
have a deal with us,” Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC on Sunday. “If we
see a sincerity on their part, I am sure that we will be on a road
to have an agreement.”
“We are ready to discuss this and other issues related to our
program provided that they are also ready to talk about the
sanctions,” he added.
The U.S. and Iran were in the middle of months of meetings when
Israel’s launch of a 12-day war against Iran back in June instantly
halted the talks. The U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites during that
war, likely destroying many of the centrifuges that spun uranium to
near weapons-grade purity. Israel’s attacks decimated Iran’s air
defenses and targeted its ballistic missile arsenal as well.
Iran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60%
purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels.
___
Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman contributed from Tel Aviv,
Israel.
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