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News Analysis
Iran rejects any deal that would ban it from any nuclear enrichment, long a demand of U.S. conservatives.
Steven Erlanger has covered diplomatic talks with Iran over its nuclear program for many years.
May 17, 2025, 5:01 a.m. ET
By every measure, President Trump has made it clear that he wants “to do a deal” with Iran over its nuclear program and avoid a war, pushing aside Israeli proposals for a mutual military campaign instead.
“I want to make a deal with Iran,’” Mr. Trump said in Saudi Arabia this week. “If I can make a deal with Iran, I’ll be very happy, if we’re going to make your region and the world a safer place.”
His trip to the Gulf Arab states underlined his conviction. When Iran first agreed in 2015 to limit its nuclear program after years of negotiations with six world powers, the Gulf States saw Iran as a dangerous adversary and worked to isolate it. But today, those same Gulf leaders have been making their own rapprochements with Iran and want to avoid further instability and broader conflict in the Middle East, with Gaza still at war.
At every stop of Mr. Trump’s trip, Arab leaders urged him to find a negotiated settlement with Iran. “The alternative is terrible” for them, said Ali Vaez, Iran director of the International Crisis Group. “Iran with a bomb or Iran bombed both have bad consequences for the region,” he added.
Reaching a deal with Iran will test the harder-line wing of Mr. Trump’s supporters in the Republican Party and whether they will fall in line with what would be a departure from their longstanding demands that Iran dismantle its nuclear program. More than 200 congressional Republicans urged him in a letter this week to stand firm with Iran.
The United States and its partners fear that a nuclear-armed Iran could set off an atomic arms race in the Middle East and contribute to instability there, sharply raising the stakes for any miscalculation between rivals.
