Witkoff and Kushner to lead Iran talks on Friday

Iran has previously signalled it is willing to negotiate on the level of enrichment, but has ruled out the US demand for a total end to the practice, claiming it is vital for civilian energy projects.

There also appears to be little room for compromise on the demand for strict limitations on its development of ballistic missiles, an arsenal which Tehran insists is an essential and legitimate part of its defence, but Washington and Jerusalem claim fuels Iran's regional aggression.

These, along with an end to support for regional proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah, are reportedly the three key US demands.

Effectively confirming that the talks will take place, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian instructed his foreign minister, Abbas Aragchi, in a post on X to "pursue fair and equitable negotiations".

The US is yet to comment on its participation, but President Trump has warned that "bad things" will happen if a deal is not reached.

"We have ships heading to Iran right now, big ones - the biggest and the best - and we have talks going on with Iran, and we’ll see how it all works out," he told reporters in the Oval Office yesterday, referring to his previous threat of an "armada" in the Gulf.

"If we can work something out, that would be great and if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.

“I’d like to see a deal negotiated. I don’t know that that’s going to happen."

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, and its associated strike fighter group, is already stationed in the region.

It is believed to be somewhere near Saudi Arabia, though the vessel has reportedly switched off its location transponders to make targeting more difficult in the event of conflict.

In Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid met for a security briefing in light of the developing situation.

Commenting on the meeting on X, Lapid wrote: "The entire State of Israel is united against Iran.

"There are no disagreements among us regarding the importance of dealing with this threat.

"It is important that Tehran knows that Israel stands united against the terrorism of the regime."

IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, meanwhile, recently came back from a visit to Washington, meeting senior defence officials amid the tensions.

Upon his return, he briefed Defence Minister Israel Katz, with a military spokesperson saying: "Following the series of meetings the IDF chief of staff recently held in the United States, the two are discussing, among other things, the regional situation assessment and the IDF’s operational readiness for any scenario."

And the UK has unveiled a new wave of sanctions against Iranian officials, including Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni.

A number of senior police and security officers, two judges and the Law Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Faraja) as an entity were added to the sanctions list yesterday for their parts in "recent brutality against protesters", the Foreign Office said.

The new sanctions follow the government's pledge to bring forward legislation allowing it to proscribe Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Labour has been promising to make the move since its time in opposition, but ministers have been slow to do so since taking office, claiming that the IRGC's role as a state-affiliated paramilitary force complicates proscription compared to a non-state actor such as Hamas.

Despite the EU listing the group as a terrorist organisation last week, the Home Office has insisted the government's position has not changed and that an alternative proscription system for state-linked bodies will be brought to a vote in the Commons.

However, no timeline was confirmed, with government sources briefing the press that it will be done "when parliamentary time allows".