"I don't think nuclear talks with the US will bring results. I don't know what will happen," Khamenei stated. The Supreme Leader emphasized that Washington should avoid making what he described as unreasonable demands during the diplomatic process that has shown increasing signs of strain.

Anticipated discussions that might have constituted a fifth round of negotiations possibly scheduled for the weekend in Rome appear increasingly uncertain, Reuters reported. The diplomatic efforts have encountered substantial obstacles as Iranian and American representatives clash specifically over uranium enrichment policies.

Tehran's Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi expressed on Monday that diplomatic efforts would collapse if Washington continues insisting that Iran abandon domestic uranium enrichment – an activity that American officials contend could potentially lead to nuclear weapons development.

The Islamic Republic maintains that its nuclear energy program serves exclusively peaceful purposes.Earlier on Tuesday, another Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, indicated that Tehran had received and was currently examining a proposal from the United States. This development follows US President Donald Trump's warning last week that Tehran needed to "move quickly or something bad is going to happen."

The US president has issued multiple warnings that Iran would face bombing campaigns and severe sanctions if it failed to reach a compromise regarding its disputed nuclear program.

During his initial 2017-21 presidential term, Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 agreement between Iran and world powers that established strict limitations on Tehran's enrichment activities in exchange for international sanctions relief, as detailed by Reuters.

Trump, who characterized the 2015 agreement as disproportionately favorable to Iran, also reimplemented comprehensive US sanctions against the country. The Islamic Republic responded to these measures by intensifying its uranium enrichment activities.

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Under the 2015 agreement, Iran agreed to enrich uranium only to 3.67% purity and to maintain a stockpile of no more than 300 kilograms (661 pounds). Today, however, according to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, Iran has enriched uranium to 60%, a short and technical step away from the 90% required for weaponization. The IAEA's latest report notes that as of February, Iran's total stockpile of enriched uranium stood at 8,294.4 kilograms (18,286 pounds), enough for several nuclear bombs with just a few weeks of further enrichment.

The 2015 deal also restricted the types of centrifuges Iran could operate, intending to limit Tehran's ability to rapidly escalate toward nuclear weapons. However, it is now known that Iran violated some of these terms, maintaining prohibited centrifuges, some at covert and unmonitored sites. It remains unclear whether these centrifuges were operated during the deal's validity, before former US President Donald Trump withdrew from it.

The current US administration is determined to demonstrate it can achieve a stronger agreement. American experts have been instructed to prepare a framework of enforceable limitations and monitoring mechanisms that Iran must comply with, to eliminate its military-grade enrichment capability in the long term.

One of the proposals likely to be raised includes the permanent presence of international experts at Iran's active nuclear sites, enrichment facilities, and future civilian-use reactors. Both Russia and China have offered to construct such a reactor for Iran, and the Iranians have proposed that experts from these countries be the ones to oversee it. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has already traveled to Moscow and Beijing to update his counterparts on the talks' progress.

According to an international official familiar with the details, it is clear that the United States will not agree to Russian or Chinese oversight. In addition to IAEA inspectors, Washington is expected to demand supplementary monitors. A particularly sensitive issue is that of advanced centrifuges capable of rapid enrichment to high levels. Iran claims these are merely being stored and denies the existence of secret enrichment sites. The US is likely to demand their removal from Iranian territory and to conduct inspections at suspected clandestine sites to ensure no hidden facilities remain.

So far, the US has not formally demanded inspection of Iran's ballistic missile systems capable of carrying nuclear warheads, nor has it made clear whether it will require access to the facilities developing nuclear weapon detonation mechanisms, one of the final stages in building a bomb that Iran has not yet completed.

American officials in contact with Israeli counterparts insist that the negotiations will involve rigorous oversight measures, and that Iran will not be able to achieve a nuclear weapon within several years. Unlike in the past, Israel is now being updated on most aspects of the talks and is raising its concerns from its own strategic perspective. European intelligence officials are also involved, providing information and recommendations.

The economic crisis behind the talks

Several indicators reveal the deepening economic crisis pushing Iran to the negotiating table. Oil exports make up roughly one-third of the Iranian government's revenue. The US sanctions campaign dubbed "maximum pressure," introduced by President Trump, has caused a sharp drop in oil sales during the first three months of this year. Sanctions targeting ports and refineries in China - one of Iran's few remaining customers - have brought Iranian exports down to just 500,000 barrels per day, one-third of 2024 levels. The resulting loss amounts to an estimated $9 billion over three months, or nearly $40 billion on an annualized basis.

The impact on Iran's economy is even more severe considering that much of the lost revenue would have gone to the civilian sector.

Roughly one-third of Iranian oil exports are controlled by the military, which runs its own export firms and directly channels revenues to its operations. Half the exports are controlled by ostensibly civilian companies affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the remainder by standard government-owned firms.

According to intelligence sources, the central government has diverted most of the revenue shortfall to the civilian sector. Military-affiliated companies have experienced a less dramatic decline in earnings, and the losses at Revolutionary Guard-linked firms have been the smallest. The US is aware of this distribution and is trying to target sanctions more precisely - on tankers, ports, and refineries doing business with military and Guard-related entities. Iran has responded by adjusting its practices to protect its armed forces and paramilitary organizations.

Additionally, the economic crisis has slashed tax and customs revenues due to a general slowdown in economic activity. The projected budget deficit for the 2025/26 fiscal year is expected to reach about 30% of the total state budget. This explains the regime's urgency to resume talks with the US, but raises questions as to why the American administration has not used this leverage more aggressively to secure stricter opening conditions, particularly regarding missiles and regional terrorism support.

Separately, political-level negotiations are set to resume this Saturday in Oman.

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Kyodo News, Japan's leading news agency, reported Sunday that nuclear negotiations between Iran and Western powers are set to resume next month, as the eighth round of talks between the two sides has been on hold for more than 3 years.

According to the Japanese news outlet, Iranian officials are expected to meet with representatives from Britain, France, and Germany in Geneva, Switzerland. The discussions will focus on establishing a new nuclear agreement to replace the 2015 accord, which the United States abandoned.

Sources indicate the timing of the talks would coincide with President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, though it remains unclear whether the incoming administration has been consulted or has approved the diplomatic initiative. The new president's position could prove decisive for the talks' prospects.

However, these diplomatic overtures stand in stark contrast to recent developments at the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA Board of Governors issued a formal resolution Thursday condemning Iran's insufficient cooperation with the nuclear watchdog. This represents the second censure of Iran in five months, delivered despite explicit warnings from Tehran against such action.

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Many issues in a range of areas remain unresolved in indirect talks between Iran and the United States on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a source close to the talks said on Friday.

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"In every single aspect of the [unfinished] document [outlining a deal] there are issues that are still under consideration," the source told reporters, adding that while negotiations were heading in the right direction they "do not have all the time in the world."

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Friday that a renewed deal with Iran on curtailing its nuclear program remained "possible" as talks in Vienna advance in a "better atmosphere."

"We're arriving at the end of a long process... there's a better atmosphere since Christmas – before Christmas I was very pessimistic. Today I believe reaching an accord is possible," he said after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers.

He said a final deal could be concluded "in the coming weeks."

"I still maintain the hope that it would be possible to remake this agreement and have it function as it did before the American withdrawal," he added.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman echoed that sentiment earlier this week, saying that efforts by "all parties" to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers had resulted in "good progress" during the Vienna talks.

But Borrell spoke alongside French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who reiterated his view that the talks are progressing "much too slowly to be able to reach a result."

"We now have to conclude and come to a decision: Either the Iranians want to complete this, in which case we have the impression that there will be flexibility in the Americans' stance," Le Drian said.

"Or they don't want to complete this, and in that case we will be faced with a major proliferation crisis. There will be nothing more to negotiate if nothing happens," he warned.

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Negotiations to salvage the nuclear deal resumed in late November after they were suspended in June as Iran elected a new, hard-line government.

The 2015 deal – agreed by Iran, the US, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany – offered Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program to ensure it would not develop atomic weapons.

In 2018, then-US president Donald Trump withdrew the US and reimposed harsh sanctions, prompting Tehran to begin rolling back on its commitments.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that only "a few weeks" were left to save the 2015 deal, and that Washington would consider "other options" if the negotiations fail.

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Indirect US-Iranian talks on saving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will resume on Thursday in Vienna, Iranian news agencies reported on Tuesday.

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"We will continue the talks on Thursday ... and await practical steps by the West," Iran's top negotiator Ali Bakri Kani was quoted as telling Iranian media during a visit to Moscow by the semi-official news agency ISNA.

Earlier, the Tasnim news agency said Bakri Kani had finalized the date of the resumption of the talks after contacting European Union coordinator Enrique Mora.

The talks broke off on Friday as European officials voiced dismay at sweeping demands by Iran's new, hardline government.

The seventh round of talks in Vienna is the first with delegates sent by Iran's anti-Western President Ebrahim Raisi on how to resuscitate the agreement under which Iran limited its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions.

On Monday, Iran said there would not be any "halts or step-by-step agreements or temporary agreements" when nuclear talks resumed in Vienna later this week.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Saeed Khatibzadeh, told reporters at a news conference in Tehran that his country won't allow its "time or energy to be wasted" by other parties involved in talks.

"We are neither in a hurry nor will we allow our time and energy to be wasted by anyone in Vienna. Hopefully, everyone will soon be able to see that our team appears in Vienna with the goal of a good agreement and we hope the opposing side appears with this same goal," he said.

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Foreign Minister Yair Lapid was expected to meet with the Biden administration's special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, on Monday, who is heading a US delegation on a regional trip that will also include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain ahead of fresh talks with Iran later this month in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

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In a message possibly designed to convey Israel's opposition to US policy over the looming nuclear talks and the Biden administration's seeming intent to reach a new deal with the Islamic republic at any cost, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett decided not to meet with Malley.

"Bennett isn't boycotting Malley. He believes that returning to the [negotiating] table isn't the right thing to do," a source close to the prime minister said.

Malley is also not senior enough to be meeting with a prime minister or president, another Israeli official said.

During his two-day visit, Malley will also meet with senior officials from the National Security Council, Foreign Ministry, and the intelligence community.

In his meetings with Israeli officials, Malley was expected to detail America's reasoning for favoring a renewed nuclear deal with Iran. The Israeli side, on the other hand, was likely to express its strong objections to any deal with the ayatollah regime and ask the Americans to impose further sanctions against Iran.

Israel Hayom has learned, meanwhile, that alongside the disagreements and despite the US desire to reach a deal at almost any cost, the sides will also discuss the possibility of a scenario that a deal cannot be reached.

In recent months, the Biden administration has become increasingly aware that the odds of reaching a nuclear deal with Iran are not high, and that Tehran's goal was to buy more time for its nuclear program. As a result of this assessment shift, the US and its allies, including Israel, have amplified their "muscle-flexing" opposite Iran, namely in the form of joint military exercises at sea and in the air.

With that, Israeli officials are still working to persuade the US to expedite a harsher stance and Israel intends to "propose several ideas" in the case a deal with Iran fails to materialize, which is what the sides are expected to focus over the next two days. Israeli officials have repeatedly stressed that Israel reserves the right to defend itself against Iran independently if it feels pressed to do so.

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US President Joe Biden said Saturday that nuclear talks with Iran would resume even as he and European leaders warned Tehran that "accelerated" and "provocative nuclear steps" it has taken will jeopardize its return to compliance under a 2015 nuclear agreement.

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Biden and the leaders of Germany, France and Britain met as Iran continues to enrich uranium to near-weapons-grade levels. The leaders are trying to revive the 2015 deal and restore Iran's program to where it was under the pact, which kept the Islamic republic at least one year away from the potential to field a nuclear weapon.

"This will only be possible if Iran changes course," Biden, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a joint statement.

"We call upon [Iranian] President [Ebrahim] Raisi to seize this opportunity and return to a good faith effort to conclude our negotiations as a matter of urgency. That is the only sure way to avoid a dangerous escalation, which is not in any country's interest," they said after meeting on the sidelines of a summit of the Group of 20 richest nations.

The four leaders met to discuss Iran while in Rome to attend the G20 summit.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the four Western leaders "expressed our determination to ensure that Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon."

The leaders shared "our grave and growing concern" that Iran "has accelerated the pace of provocative nuclear steps" after it halted negotiations on a return to the nuclear agreement, formally known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Somewhat conflictingly, however, as the leaders posed for photos before the closed-door talks, Biden was asked when he would like the stalled negotiations with Iran to resume.

"They're scheduled to resume," he said, in what appeared to be the first public confirmation by the US of a resumption in negotiations.

Ahead of his meeting with Germany, France and the U.K. on Iran strategy, Biden is asked, "Mr. President, when would you like talks with Iran to resume?"

Biden: "They're scheduled to resume."

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 30, 2021

Merkel, for her part, said she was deeply concerned by Iran's uranium enrichment.

"We are counting on a return of Iran to the negotiating table. But the clock is ticking. Uranium enrichment is occurring in Iran and this deeply concerns us," she said on the sidelines of the G20 meeting.

An EU diplomat said the hint about lifting sanctions as an incentive for Iran to resume talks was "very clear," but added that Western powers should be ready if Iran continues its current policies, and said EU officials have yet to decide at what point they should react if Tehran does.

Iran has yet to commit to a date to return to nuclear talks being held in Vienna but last Wednesday, the Islamic republic's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri, said they were slated to resume at the end of November.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Thursday that the US was still trying to determine whether Iran was serious about returning to the negotiations.

"We have heard positive signals that they are, but I think we have to wait and see when and whether they actually show up at the negotiating table," he told reporters Thursday aboard Air Force One as Biden flew to Rome.

Sullivan said the leaders would send "clear messages" to Iran that the window for negotiation "is not unlimited."

"We, of course, retain all other options to be able to deal with this program as necessary," he said.

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A senior US administration official told reporters the meeting with Germany, France and Britain had been suggested by Merkel with the aim of giving leaders an opportunity to review the issues ahead of the resumption of the talks.

"Our conviction is that if the United States and Europe are united and the United States and the entire P5+1 pull together, the diplomatic solution is the best solution to preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon," the official said, referring to the UN Security Council's five permanent members, plus Germany.

"And so they talked about (...) how we can effectively shape the environment to give diplomacy the best chance of succeeding in the fastest possible timeframe to put a lid back on Iran's nuclear program," the official added.

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Iran's talks with six world powers aimed at reviving a 2015 nuclear deal will resume by the end of November, its top nuclear negotiator said on Wednesday, as Western concerns over the Islamic Republic's nuclear advances grow.

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"Had a very serious & constructive dialogue with @enriquemora_ on the essential elements for successful negotiations. We agree to start negotiations before the end of November," Ali Bagheri Kani wrote on Twitter after meeting EU officials in Brussels.

"Exact date would be announced in the course of the next week," he added.

In April, Tehran and six powers started to discuss ways to salvage the 2015 nuclear pact, which three years ago then-US President Donald Trump abandoned. Trump then reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran that have devastated its economy by squeezing its oil exports.

But the discussions about resuming the talks have been on hold since the election of Iran's hardline President Ebrahim Raisi, who is expected to take a tough approach if the talks resume in Vienna.

In response to Trump's pressure, Tehran has gradually breached the deal by rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity, and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up output.

For months, Western powers have urged Iran to return to negotiations and said time is running out as Tehran's nuclear program advances well beyond the limits set by the deal.

After six rounds of talks in Vienna, Tehran and Washington still disagree on which steps need to be taken and when with the key issues being what nuclear limits Tehran will accept and what sanctions Washington will remove.

"America's return to the deal does not matter to us. What is important is that the outcome of talks be in Iran's favor," Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said in a televised news conference.

He repeated Iran's demand for the release of its assets frozen because of US sanctions.

"[US President Joe] Biden has to put his goodwill into practice by for instance releasing $10 billion of Iran's blocked assets," Amirabdollahian said.

Iran has been unable to access tens of billions of dollars of its assets in foreign banks, mainly from exports of oil and gas, due to US sanctions on its banking and energy sectors.

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Iran's state TV reported Thursday that speedboats belonging to the country's Revolutionary Guard have intercepted US vessels in the Persian Gulf. A US Navy spokesman said he was not aware of any such encounter at sea over the past days.

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The region remains on edge over Iran's escalating nuclear program. Talks in Vienna to revive Tehran's now-tattered 2015 accord with world powers have stalled since June, with no date set for their resumption.

Thursday's Iranian report aired footage that the TV said was filmed from one of the Guard speedboats. It shows at least one vessel with the US flag and personnel on board as at least two speedboats appear to be chasing it. Other non-Iranian vessels in the video were not identifiable, however.

A voice is heard in the footage, saying in Farsi: "Keep chasing them." The report did not say when the encounter took place.

Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a spokesman for the US Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said he was not aware of any sort of unsafe interaction with Iran in the last two days.

The report is the first such report in recent months.

In May, the Guard rejected the US Navy's claim that fast-approaching Iranian speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz sparked a tense encounter a day after the US said the Revolutionary Guard sent 13 armed speedboats too close to US Navy vessels in the Strait.

The United States at the time said a Coast Guard cutter fired warning shots when two of the Iranian boats came dangerously close.

The 2015 nuclear deal saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. In 2018, under then-US President Donald Trump, the US withdrew from the accord.

With the talks in Vienna now stalled, Iran has breached limits set by the accord and is enriching uranium to its closest-ever levels to weapons-grade purity as its stockpile continues to grow.

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Iran's supreme leader on Wednesday called the US "stubborn" in stalled nuclear talks in Vienna for discussing Tehran's missiles and regional influence, likely signaling challenges ahead in efforts to revive its tattered atomic accord with world powers.

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Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's remarks come as his hard-line protege, President-elect Ebrahim Raisi, is posed to be sworn in next week as the head of the country's civilian government.

While Raisi has said he wants to return to the deal, which saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions, Khamenei seemingly called for a more-adversarial approach in his remarks. They also appeared to describe outgoing President Hassan Rouhani's eight-year government as naive for its approach in reaching the 2015 agreement as its officials sat before him.

"Others should use your experiences. This experience is a distrust of the West," Khamenei said in remarks broadcast by state television. "In this government, it was shown up that trust in the West does not work."

He added: "Westerners do not help us, they hit wherever they can."

The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Biden administration days earlier criticized Iran for saying America had delayed a possible prisoner-swap deal, calling it "an outrageous effort to deflect blame for the current impasse."

French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes Von Der Muhll also told journalists Monday that it was "urgent for Iran to return to the negotiating table."

"Through its actions, Iran continues to exacerbate the nuclear situation," she said. "If it continues down this path, not only will it delay the moment when an agreement might be reached providing for the lifting of sanctions, but it could compromise the very possibility of concluding the Vienna talks and restoring the" deal.

In his remarks Wednesday, Khamenei described American negotiators as verbally promising to lift sanctions, but said any return to the nuclear deal must "include a sentence" on negotiating on other issues.

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"By putting this sentence, they want to provide an excuse for their further interventions on the principle of (the deal) and missile program and regional issues," the leader said. "If Iran refuses to discuss them, they will say that you have violated the agreement and the agreement is over."

Rouhani sat off to the side at Khamenei's office during the meeting along with his senior vice president, while officials in his government sat before the supreme leader in socially distanced chairs amid the country's raging coronavirus outbreak. All wore masks, making it difficult to see their expressions as Khamenei criticized any outreach to the West while only praising "some" of the country's diplomats in front of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

"Westerners do not help us, they hit wherever they can," Khamenei said. He also said at another point: "They don't help, they are enemies."

Under the deal, Iran agreed to limit its enrichment of uranium gas to just 3.67% purity, which can be used in nuclear power plants but is far below weapons-grade levels of 90%. It also put a hard cap on Iran's uranium stockpile to just 300 kilograms (661 pounds). Tehran also committed to using only 5,060 of its first-generation centrifuges, the devices that spin the uranium gas to enrich it.

Then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018. Today, Iran has broken all the limits it agreed to under the deal. It now enriches small amounts of uranium up to 63% purity, its highest level ever. It also spins far-more advanced centrifuges and more of them than allowed under the accord, worrying nuclear nonproliferation experts, though Tehran insists its program is peaceful.

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