The ongoing dispute between President Trump’s negotiating team and Iran revolves around the issue of whether the United States is willing to allow Iran to continue producing nuclear fuel. If no agreement is reached, there could be a possibility of another war in the Middle East. For Mr. Trump and Steve Witcoff, his special envoy, these negotiations are new and Iran’s insistence on enriching uranium poses a threat to any potential agreement. However, this is similar to the dilemma that President Barack Obama faced a decade ago. After much deliberation, Mr. Obama and his aides concluded that the only way to an agreement would be to allow Iran to continue producing small amounts of nuclear fuel. This deal, which all Republican lawmakers and some Democrats voted against, contained Iran’s ambitions for three years until Mr. Trump pulled out. Iran had been compliant with the terms of the accord.
Mr. Trump now faces similar choices and will likely face opposition from both Iran hawks in the United States and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. They have been pushing for military action against Iran’s nuclear sites. Wendy Sherman, the chief negotiator of the 2015 agreement for the Obama administration, stated that there is a sense of déjà vu and that they faced the same challenges with those insisting on complete dismantlement of Iran’s facilities and zero enrichment. Mr. Trump has more leeway than Mr. Obama did in lifting embargoes on Iran and there seems to be a bit of optimism that negotiations might succeed.
It is unsure how long negotiations will continue, but both sides are now avoiding declarations that they are at a deadlock. Negotiators are meeting this weekend in Oman, which is acting as a mediator. Iran has expressed its desire to continue enriching uranium and will not back down from that position. The threat Iran poses is greater now than it was a decade ago, as the country has produced enough fuel at near-bomb-grade levels to make the fuel for 10 nuclear weapons in a short amount of time.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/us/politics/trump-iran-nuclear-talks.html
