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President Trump pulled out of the last Iran nuclear accord in 2018, and negotiators from the two nations have not met face-to-face since. Now he faces the challenge of dismantling the Iranian program.
By David E. Sanger and Farnaz Fassihi
David E. Sanger has covered the Iranian nuclear program for more than two decades. He reported from Washington. Farnaz Fassihi covers a range of Iranian political and social issues, and reported from New York.
- April 7, 2025
President Trump said on Monday that the United States would engage in “direct” negotiations with Iran next Saturday in a last-ditch effort to rein in the country’s nuclear program, saying Tehran would be “in great danger” if it failed to reach an accord.
If direct talks take place, they would be the first official face-to-face negotiations between the two countries since Mr. Trump abandoned the Obama-era nuclear accord seven years ago. They would also come at a perilous moment, as Iran has lost the air defenses around its key nuclear sites because of precise Israeli strikes last October. And Iran can no longer rely on its proxy forces in the Middle East — Hamas, Hezbollah and the now-ousted Assad government in Syria — to threaten Israel with retaliation.
In a social media post, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, confirmed that talks would take place on Saturday in Oman, but he said that they would be indirect, meaning intermediaries would work with the two sides. “It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America’s court,” Mr. Araghchi said.
On the order of its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran has refused to sit down with American officials in direct nuclear negotiations since Mr. Trump pulled out of the last accord. After Mr. Trump spoke on Monday, however, three Iranian officials said Ayatollah Khamenei had shifted his position to potentially allow direct talks.
The officials said that if Saturday’s indirect talks are respectful and productive, then direct talks may happen. The officials asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Still, Iran is almost certain to resist dismantling its entire nuclear infrastructure, which has given it a “threshold” capability to make the fuel for a bomb in a matter of weeks — and perhaps a full weapon in months. Many Iranians have begun to talk openly about the need for the country to build a weapon since it has proved fairly defenseless in a series of missile exchanges with Israel last year.
