Iran’s Foreign Ministry has shut the door on diplomacy with the United States, declaring that no deal is coming and that talks are finished. The timing is not great, given that a Trump-imposed deadline for reaching an agreement is approaching fast.
Tehran’s position is blunt: there are no direct negotiations happening, and any American claims to the contrary are, in the words of Iranian officials, “fake news.”
What actually broke down
The negotiations, such as they were, never involved the US and Iran sitting across a table from each other. Instead, the two sides communicated through mediators, primarily Pakistan and Oman, along with other regional partners.
The core issues on the table were Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, sanctions relief, the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran’s ballistic missile development.
