Jackie Northam

And it brought a large technical team with it to Geneva as a gesture that it's serious.

I spoke with Sanam Vakil, and she's an Iran specialist at Chatham House, which is a London-based think tank.

And she says Iran is in a weaker bargaining position than the U.S.

because it's in dire economic straits.

Here she is.

But you know, Leila, thousands of Iranians were killed by security forces during those protests, according to human rights groups.

So any concessions by the U.S.

could be seen as rewarding the authoritarian regime.

And in fact, Trump recently said regime change in Iran would be, quote, the best that could happen.

And this, of course, as a second aircraft carrier heads towards the region.

Well, you're right.

Yeah, Wyckoff and Kushner are addressing these two major crises on the very same day.

And there are even lower expectations of a breakthrough with the Ukraine talks and the Iran ones.

This is only recently Ukraine and Russia have done face-to-face meetings, and that could indicate some pressure by Trump.

You recall during his presidential campaign, he said he'd stop the war in one day.

Now he says he wants a deal by June.

But there is no real end to the war in sight, and it's set to enter its fifth year next week.

That's NPR's Jackie Northam.

Thank you, Jackie.

Thank you.