After weeks of tense negotiations aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, the Trump administration has offered a concession that may open a path to a compromise.
Over the weekend, the United States proposed the outline of a deal that would seem to allow Iran to temporarily continue enriching uranium. That has been a sticking point in the talks, which have been at an impasse.
President Trump has consistently berated Iran’s leadership, and the countries have been at odds for many decades. But shifts in geopolitics and Mr. Trump’s wish to secure a legacy-making deal have sent his aides back to the negotiating table. Failed talks could lead to a destructive regional war.
Under the proposal, which Iranian and European officials described on the condition of anonymity, Iran could produce enriched uranium temporarily while the United States facilitates building nuclear power plants for Iran. A consortium of countries in the region would manage uranium enrichment facilities to provide nuclear fuel for the plants.
Iran would then have to stop all enrichment within its borders once it begins receiving any benefits from those facilities.
Here is what you need to know.
What’s in the proposed new deal?
The proposal amounts to a bridge between the current situation, in which Iran is rapidly producing near-bomb-grade uranium, and the U.S. goal to have Iran enrich no uranium at all on its soil.
The details are vague, and the two sides remain far apart on many elements of a deal. It is unclear whether the Iranians will go along with the latest Trump proposal.
In the opening years of the proposed arrangement, when new enrichment facilities to produce fuel for power plants are being built in cooperation with Arab states, it appears that Iran could keep enriching uranium at low levels.
The idea is to essentially wrap Iran in a bearhug with other countries, potentially including the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and others.
Whether Iran’s leadership will agree to such a deal is unclear. “We do not need anyone’s permission to enrich uranium,” Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Tuesday. But the country is struggling economically under intense U.S. sanctions, which might be lifted under a nuclear deal.
The United States has been trying to block the development of a nuclear weapon by Iran, whose leaders have encouraged chants of “Death to America” and have vowed to destroy Israel.
In his first term, Mr. Trump pulled the United States out of an agreement negotiated under President Barack Obama that had similarly sought to keep Iran from producing a nuclear bomb.
The new proposal, crafted by Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, is vaguely worded on many of the most important issues, suggesting that considerable negotiating lies ahead, Iranian and European officials said.
What happened in previous talks?
On May 25, Iran and the United States made modest progress during talks in Rome, the fifth round of discussions, according to an intermediary.
The main issue was Washington’s demand that Tehran halt all uranium enrichment and dismantle all of its centrifuges. Iran has insisted it will not give up the right to enrich uranium at lower levels, as guaranteed by the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
In Oman on May 11, Iran proposed the creation of a joint nuclear-enrichment venture involving Arab countries and American investment.
Mr. Araghchi proposed the idea, originally floated in 2007, to Mr. Witkoff, according to the Iranian officials. They asked not to be named because they were discussing sensitive issues.
Even if the United States prevents Iran from developing nuclear weapons, other concerns include Iran’s advanced missile program, its support of proxy militias in the Middle East and its hostility to Israel.
Iran has said its defense and missile capabilities have not been and will not be raised in these negotiations.
What’s at stake?
The talks can potentially reshape regional and global security by reducing the chance of a U.S.-backed Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities and preventing Iran from producing a nuclear weapon.
A deal could also transform Iran’s economic and political landscape by easing American sanctions and opening the country to foreign investors.
Iran has been enriching uranium to around 60 percent purity, just short of the level needed to produce a weapon. It has amassed enough to build up to seven bombs if it chooses to weaponize, according to the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The agency says it has not found signs of weaponization.
If its nuclear facilities were attacked, Iran has said it would retaliate and consider leaving the U.N. Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Iran’s economy and the future of its 90 million people are also on the line.
Years of sanctions have led to chronic inflation, exacerbated by economic mismanagement and corruption. Many Iranians say they feel trapped in a downward spiral and hope a nuclear deal would help.
How did we get here?
The previous deal between Iran, the United States and other world powers put measures in place to prevent Iran from weaponizing its nuclear program by capping enrichment of uranium, transferring stockpiles of enriched uranium to Russia and allowing monitoring cameras and inspections by the U.N. watchdog.
Mr. Trump unilaterally exited the deal in 2018. European companies then pulled out of Iran, and banks stopped working with the country, fearing U.S. sanctions. About a year after Mr. Trump left the agreement, Iran, not seeing any financial benefits, moved away from its obligations and increased its levels of uranium enrichment, gradually reaching 60 percent.
The Iranians may be attempting a replay. The deal with the Obama administration was preceded by an agreement in principle that served as an outline for the final accord two years later.
Trump administration officials initially rejected this approach, saying it would take too long. But as the administration has come to see the complexities of what it hopes to achieve, such a preliminary accord might help forestall Israel’s threats of military action.
Reporting was contributed by Vivian Nereim, Vivian Yee, Steven Erlanger, Lara Jakes and Leily Nikounazar.
Farnaz Fassihi is the United Nations bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of the organization, and also covers Iran and the shadow war between Iran and Israel. She is based in New York.
David E. Sanger covers the Trump administration and a range of national security issues. He has been a Times journalist for more than four decades and has written four books on foreign policy and national security challenges.
Ephrat Livni is a reporter for The Times’s DealBook newsletter, based in Washington.
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