Washington is seeking stiff concessions from Iran for any peace deal, the Washington Post reported on Thursday citing a US official, including curbs to its missile program and support for armed allies in the region.
The United States wants Tehran to commit to direct talks with the United States, ending uranium enrichment, curbing its missile program and ending funding for its armed affiliated in the Middle East, the newspaper cited the official as saying.
European-triggered international sanctions were reimposed on Tehran over the weekend as a standoff over Iran's nuclear activities lingers despite Israeli and US attacks in June which US President Donald Trump says "obliterated" Iran's program.
According to the US official cited by the Post, the so-called snapback sanctions will “create the environment” for “a diplomatic solution."
Tehran denies seeking a bomb and has called the new sanctions an illegal attempt to violate its sovereignty and end enrichment activities permitted by international law.
On Wednesday, Iran's security chief Ali Larijani said US attempts to dictate its military capabilities, foreign policy and nuclear rights were unacceptable and anticipated the outcome of any talks before they had even began.
The Trump administration and Tehran held two months of talks earlier this year to reach an agreement on Iran's disputed nuclear program.
But the day after Trump's 60-day deadline passed, Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran on June 13, striking military and nuclear facilities as well as senior commanders and officials.
Hundreds of military personnel and civilians were killed. Iran retaliated with ballistic missiles and drones which killed 31 Israeli civilians and an off-duty soldier.
On June 22, the US joined the campaign, hitting three major nuclear sites in Isfahan, Fordow, and Natanz, which President Trump said destroyed Iran’s capacity to build a nuclear bomb.
A ceasefire was brokered by the United States on June 24, ending the 12-day war.
Arab caution
Tensions remain high in the region, especially after a failed Israeli attempt to assassinate senior Hamas officials based in Qatar last month.
A senior Arab government official close to the Trump administration cited by the Post cautioned against a continuing cycle of violence.
“The region today cannot go through the same Iranian-Israeli war or the other wars of the last two years. The cost is too high,” the daily quoted the official as saying, adding “de-escalation” and "diplomacy has to be the way forward".
Since the ceasefire, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany in August have pushed Iran to enter direct negotiations with the US and fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran, however, had suspended cooperation in response to the attacks.
The three European powers warned that if Iran refused, they would trigger the return of UN sanctions under a UN resolution codifying a now mostly lapsed 2015 nuclear deal. Those sanctions are now in force.
The new sanctions further strained Iran’s already fragile economy. Oil exports, the country’s main source of revenue, have faced renewed restrictions, threatening foreign currency earnings.
The Iranian rial has continued to lose value against the dollar, pushing inflation higher and worsening the cost of living crisis. International banking channels remain largely closed to Iran, hampering trade and investment.
Araghchi told CNN this week that negotiations with Washington under the current conditions amounted to “a total deadlock,” citing what Tehran calls repeated breaches of commitments by the United States.
He said UN sanctions reimposed under the snapback mechanism had made diplomacy more complicated and difficult.
The IRNA analysis said Iran and the United States, since Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January, had moved between dialogue and confrontation.
Initial indirect talks mediated through Oman and Qatar saw US envoy Steve Witkoff float limited enrichment proposals, but Washington later demanded zero enrichment and the handover of enriched uranium stockpiles.
Iran has strongly rejected US demands, a stance underscored by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a televised address just before President Masoud Pezeshkian’s speech to the UN General Assembly.
Echoing that line, Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Thursday that Western powers were not seeking genuine negotiations but aimed to exploit economic and security pressure. “Western governments see economic pressure as a tool to trigger unrest and weaken Iran,” he said.
Pezeshkian also rejected those terms, saying: “Why should we give them our enriched uranium? For what reason? If there is to be dialogue, it must be about the whole issue. Otherwise this is not negotiation; this is surrender.”
Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Wednesday that, according to Araghchi, Iran had expressed readiness in New York to hold a meeting with the three European countries, the International Atomic Energy Agency and US envoy Steve Witkoff, but the proposal was either rejected or the counterparts failed to attend.
Mistrust deepens after June conflict
IRNA said Tehran views US demands as unilateral impositions and believes the American approach has aligned with Israel’s military campaign against Iran earlier this year.
The agency added that Israel’s 12-day conflict with Iran in June, joined briefly by US forces, was seen in Tehran as “a shot at diplomacy” that reinforced mistrust.
Citing Iranian officials, IRNA said Washington most recently offered to delay snapback sanctions by three, then nine, and finally 12 months in return for a halt to enrichment and the transfer of uranium stocks.
Tehran rejected the plan, with Pezeshkian calling it “excessive and coercive.”
Tehran mulling over response
The analysis said Iran’s immediate response is likely to be guided by the Supreme National Security Council, with possible measures including suspending the “Cairo Agreement” with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
While exit from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was described as unlikely, IRNA said Iran would continue to rely on “resistance economics,” closer ties with non-Western partners such as China and Russia, and selective diplomacy.
The government is scheduled to approve a response plan to the UN snapback sanctions on Sunday, Mohajerani said on Wednesday, adding the strategy assigns ministries tasks to ease public pressure.
“Tehran currently sees the solution in adopting strategic patience until the West changes course or the playing field shifts,” the agency wrote. It added that success would depend on domestic economic reforms, unity at home, and stronger backing from non-Western allies.
Ali Herischi, who represents several Iranians seeking asylum in the United States, told ABC News that two of his clients “disappeared” from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainee locator system this week and were then deported to Iran.
He said one of them is a Christian convert who had arrived at the southern border earlier this year with his pregnant wife.
“We tried multiple times to ask for his appeal,” Herischi said. “And suddenly, without any information, we realized that he disappeared from [the ICE] detainee locator and then the news broke that Iranians had been deported back to Iran.”
Herischi said his client’s wife, who recently gave birth and remains in the United States, was able to briefly speak with her husband after his deportation. According to Herischi, the man told her that he was “shackled and handcuffed all the way to Iran.”
The attorney called the deportations “unconscionable,” adding, “It was so wrong, and unfortunately these are the same people that … US foreign policy tries to protect. These are those who stand up against the regime, who pay a price for standing up against the regime, and then you give them back directly to the hand of evil.”
ABC News reported that Herischi represents 25 people who are worried about being deported to Iran.
Earlier this week, Iranian state media quoted an official as saying about 120 Iranian nationals detained in the US would be returned in the coming days.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that a chartered US flight carrying more than 100 Iranians departed Louisiana and was scheduled to arrive in Tehran via Qatar.
Iranian officials confirmed that 120 citizens are being repatriated, some voluntarily, while others had asylum claims denied.
For decades, the US has provided refuge to Iranians fleeing political or religious persecution. Human rights advocates warn that returnees -- including converts to Christianity, dissidents and activists -- could face serious risks on arrival in Iran.
The decision, signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, extends to organizations across Iran’s energy, shipping, banking, and research sectors.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Bank Sepah and several firms involved in nuclear fuel production and uranium conversion are among the most significant entities blacklisted by Ankara.
Other sanctioned entities include Isfahan Nuclear Fuel Research and Production Center (NFRPC), Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center (ENTC), First East Export Bank, Irano Hind Shipping Company, IRISL Benelux NV, Jaber Ibn Hayyan, Karaj Nuclear Research Center, Kavoshyar Company, Mesbah Energy Company, Modern Industries Technique Company, Novin Energy Company, Agriculture and Medical Nuclear Research Center, Pars Trash Company, Pishgam Energy Industries, South Shipping Line Iran and Tamas Company.
The decision was made official on Wednesday when it was published in Turkey’s Official Gazette — the government’s legal record of new laws and decrees.
The measure updates earlier Turkish actions from 2006, 2015, and 2021 that implemented United Nations Security Council resolutions on Iran.
The latest decree underscores Ankara’s alignment with a renewed global pressure campaign targeting Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
The coordinated steps follow the United Nations’ recent reimposition of sanctions against Tehran through the so-called snapback mechanism.
The sanctions had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, but European powers triggered the mechanism citing Tehran’s failure to comply with its obligations.
Turkey’s decision to free Iran’s assets signaled its support for the broader international effort to contain Iran’s nuclear and military programs, even as Ankara maintains complex trade and diplomatic ties with its eastern neighbor.
