COMEX gold and silver futures are staying on the sidelines on Thursday morning in Asia following a substantial rise in the previous session. The precious metals were boosted on safe haven demand amid signs of rising tensions between the US and Iran. US Vice President JD Vance reportedly said on Wednesday that Iran had failed to acknowledge key US demands in talks, after which Washington said it had agreed to give Tehran two weeks to close the gaps between the sides. Meanwhile, minutes from the January FOMC meeting revealed on Wednesday that policymakers were deeply divided over the necessity and timing of further rate cuts amid concerns about inflation. Currently, the yellow metal is seen quoting lower by 0.44% at $4996.50 an ounce after rising around 2% yesterday. Silver futures on COMEX also surged over 5% in the previous session. Meanwhile, the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) and the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) have announced the withdrawal of additional margins on gold and silver futures contracts, effective Thursday, February 19.MCX said it will remove the additional 3% margin on all gold futures contracts and the 7% additional margin on all silver futures contracts that were introduced earlier this month.