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This is the Global News Podcasts from the BBC World Service.

I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and in the early hours of Wednesday, the 18th of February, these are our main stories.

The ongoing Iran-U.S. nuclear talks, we hear from Geneva and are

correspondent in Tehran. Congress in Peru votes to remove its interim president on corruption

charges and why the prospects of war in northern Ethiopia are growing. Also in this podcast, the German drugs giant Bayer offers to pay more than $10 billion

to settle claims that its weed killer Roundup caused cancer, and are Russian athletes about

to be allowed back into the Olympics.

Fears of a military conflict between Iran and the US appear to have eased

after the Iranian foreign minister said the two sides had made progress in Geneva

at the latest talks on some guiding principles that could pave the way for a nuclear deal.

But the view from Washington is less optimistic,

with the US Vice President J.D. Vance giving a more downbeat assessment on Fox News.

In some ways it went well, they agreed to meet afterwards.

But in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines, that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.

So we're going to keep on working it, but of course the president reserves the ability to say

when he thinks that diplomacy has reached its natural end. We hope we don't get to that point,

but if we do, that'll be the president's call. Donald Trump has changed his position on Iran repeatedly in recent days and weeks.

At times, calling for regime change, then saying he believes a deal is possible. During the recent

anti-government protests, for example, he initially pledged to help protesters, saying the US was locked

and loaded, but then thousands of them were killed by their own government. And the threat of an

imminent US military strike receded, despite a rapid and significant build-up of American warships

...