A UK official who attended the last round of US-Iran talks assessed that a deal was possible. Within hours of the talks ending, the US and Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran that started a region-wide war. 

Sources speaking with the Guardian said Jonathan Powell, the UK National Security Adviser, attended the talks held near the end of February in Geneva and was “surprised” by the Iranian proposal. Powell left the talks believing a deal between the US and Iran to prevent war was within reach. 

One western diplomat told the outlet, “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 former official familiar with the talks added, “It was not a complete deal, but it was progress and was unlikely to be the Iranians’ final offer. The British team expected the next round of negotiations to go ahead on the basis of the progress in Geneva.”

The summit in Geneva wrapped up on February 26 with the Omani Foreign Minister, who was mediating the discussions, saying significant progress had been made. The next round of talks was scheduled to occur on March 2, but was derailed by a US and Israeli surprise attack on February 28. 

Powell’s assessment of the meeting differs from that of President Donald Trump. Trump has stated that, after consulting his Envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his Son-in-Law, Jared Kushner, he believed a deal was not possible. 

However, some experts said that Kushner and Witkoff did not possess the technical knowledge to understand the Iranian proposal and misinformed the President. Sources speaking with the Guardian explained that Powell and other officials who attended the talks had a similar assessment of Kushner and Witkoff.