US, Iran to hold new round of nuclear talks in Geneva this week, Swiss government says

GENEVA (AP) — Iran and the United States will hold a second round of talks over Tehran’s nuclear program next week, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

Oman, which welcomed the first round of indirect talks on Feb. 6, will host the talks in Geneva, the Swiss ministry said, without specifying which days.

After the first discussions, U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran that failure to reach an agreement with his administration would be “very traumatic.”

Similar talks last year broke down in June as Israel launched what became a 12-day war on Iran that included the U.S. bombing Iranian nuclear sites.

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 also has threatened Iran over its deadly crackdown on recent nationwide protests there.

Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another regional conflict.

Trump said Friday the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was being sent from the Caribbean to the Mideast to join other military assets the U.S. has built up in the region. He also said a change in power in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen.”

The indirect talks on Feb. 6 were between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. The top military commander in the Middle East was also present for the first time.

The Trump administration has maintained that Iran can have no uranium enrichment under any deal. Tehran says it won’t agree to that.

Iran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. However, its officials increasingly threaten to pursue a nuclear weapon. Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his nation is “ready for any kind of verification.” However, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has been unable for months to inspect and verify Iran’s nuclear stockpile.

Trump has suggested in recent weeks that his top priority is for Iran to scale back its nuclear program. Iran has said it wants talks to focus solely on the nuclear program.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with Trump in Washington this week, has pressed for any deal to include steps to neutralize Iran’s ballistic missile program and end its funding for proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

FILE - In this photo released by the Oman's Foreign Ministry, Steve Witkoff, White House special envoy, center, shakes hands with Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, accompanied by Jared Kushner, left, during a meeting prior to Iran and U.S. negotiations in Muscat, Oman, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (Oman Foreign Ministry via AP, File)

FILE - In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, center, heads to the venue for talks between Iran and the U.S., in Muscat, Oman, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP, File)

MILAN (AP) — On Valentine’s Day at the Milan Cortina Olympics, a renewed supply of free condoms for the athlete villages was promised by the organizers after going short during the week.

“We can confirm that condom supplies in the Olympic Villages were temporarily depleted due to higher-than-anticipated demand,” the Italian organizing committee said in a statement Saturday. “Additional supplies are being delivered and will be distributed across all villages between today and Monday.”

Providing condoms for athletes has been a gift from organizers — and a constant fascination to the world — for decades.

While 300,000 condoms were provided for more than 10,500 athletes at the 2024 Paris Summer Games, the original stock was much lower for these Winter Games.

“I think 10,000 have been used, 2,800 athletes — you can go figure, as they say,” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said Saturday. “It clearly shows that Valentine’s Day is in full swing in the village.”

Reports of no condoms in week one of the games followed an absence of plush toys of the official mascots, Milo and Tina, in the opening days. They proved more popular than expected in the official Olympics merchandise stores.

Condoms are traditionally popular for Olympic athletes to take home from as “a kind of gift” to friends, Alpine skier Mialitiana Clerc said Saturday.

“I’m not so shocked. I saw it in Beijing already,” said Clerc, who also competed for Madagascar four years ago at the Winter Games in China. “There were some boxes with a lot of condoms at the entrance of every building where we were staying at the village."

"Every day, everything was (gone),” she recalled about Beijing at an IOC news conference Saturday to promote its scholarship program that helps hundreds of athletes to train and qualify for the Olympics.

“I already know that a lot of people are using some condoms or just taking them to give to their friends outside of the Olympics because it’s a kind of gift for them,” Clerc said.

There should be no further shortage in Italy until the Winter Games closing ceremony Feb. 22.

“They will be continuously replenished until the end of the games to ensure continued availability,” the local organizing committee said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

A person walks at the Cortina Olympic Village, ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott)

Athletes from France walk inside the Olympic Village ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)