US–Iran nuclear talks near collapse after Washington rejects Tehran’s last-minute demands

US–Iran nuclear talks on edge

Planned nuclear talks between the United States and Iran are close to breaking down after Washington rejected Tehran’s late demand to alter both the venue and format of the negotiations on Wednesday.

According to Axios, which first reported the development, the two sides had agreed to hold talks in Istanbul on Friday, with several West Asian countries attending as observers. Iran, however, informed the US on Tuesday that it wanted the meeting shifted to Oman and narrowed to a strictly bilateral discussion focused solely on nuclear issues.

Tehran argued that such changes would prevent the talks from expanding to include Iran’s missile programme and its regional activities — areas that remain central concerns for Washington and its allies.

US officials said the request was considered but ultimately turned down on Wednesday.

“We told them it is this or nothing, and they said, ‘Ok, then nothing,’” one American official told Axios.

The impasse has now cast doubt over whether the diplomatic engagement will go ahead at all.

“There is a good chance the talks won’t happen now at all this week,” another US official said, adding that Washington is still willing to engage if Iran agrees to the original framework.

US officials cautioned that the collapse of talks could carry serious consequences.

“We want to reach a real deal quickly or people will look at other options,” a senior official said, a remark widely seen as echoing President Donald Trump’s repeated warnings that military action remains on the table.

Trump himself adopted a hard line when asked on Wednesday whether Iran’s Supreme Leader should be worried about the current standoff. “I would say he should be very worried, yeah, he should be,” the US President told reporters.

Behind the scenes, the initial proposal involved two parallel tracks: direct US-Iran discussions aimed at reviving a nuclear agreement, and separate multilateral talks with regional states addressing missiles, Iran’s support for proxy groups and human rights issues.

However, US officials told Axios they are increasingly doubtful about the prospects of a breakthrough, citing Iran’s recent conduct and limited progress in earlier engagements.

“We didn’t want to be flexible here because if there is a deal it has to be real. We didn’t want to go back to the old way of doing things,” one official said.

Another official struck a similarly blunt note, saying: “We are not naive about the Iranians. If there is a real conversation to have we will have it, but we are not going to waste our time.”

Axios reported that the current deadlock risks shutting down the diplomatic track entirely and could push Trump towards considering military options if talks fail to resume.