GENEVA — The United States and Iran are set to hold indirect talks in Switzerland on Thursday aiming to strike a deal to avert fresh conflict and bring an end to weeks of threats. The new round of negotiations in Geneva comes after the U.S. carried out a massive military build-up in the region and President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened to strike Iran if a deal is not reached. In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump accused Iran of "pursuing sinister nuclear ambitions." He also claimed Tehran had "already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they're working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America." The Iranian foreign ministry called these claims "big lies." The maximum range of Iran's missiles is 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) according to what Tehran has publicly disclosed. However the U.S. Congressional Research Service estimates they top out at about 3,000 kilometres — less than a third of the distance to the continental United States. The dispute between the countries mostly revolves around Iran's nucl