Iran-US Talks Stall as Military Threats Mount

Iran has said it will keep its enriched uranium stockpile inside the country as the United States and Israel weigh renewed strikes that could hit civilian infrastructure. Diplomacy continues under military threats from all sides, with civilians still inside the target zone.

Threats as bargaining tools

Iranian security official Mohsen Rezaei said negotiations wouldn’t begin until Washington met Iran’s trust-building measures and latest conditions. “Even a particle of enriched uranium will not exit Iran at all,” he said, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, calling the stockpile a major national asset intended for domestic use.

Iran wants the United States to lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waive sanctions and release frozen Iranian assets. Tehran has promised to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in return. Iranian lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Iran wasn’t seeking nuclear weapons, adding: “Iran's enrichment activities are unrelated to the US, and Washington should focus on fulfilling its own obligations regarding nuclear arms reduction.”

Washington, meanwhile, demands “zero uranium enrichment.” U.S. Vice President JD Vance said the United States wants a “long-term” and “verifiable commitment” that Iran won’t rebuild its nuclear programme. “If you don't want a nuclear weapon, then why do you need 60 percent enriched fuel?” he said in an interview with Reuters last month.

The June 17 Memorandum of Understanding left the stockpile’s future to further negotiations. It set downblending under International Atomic Energy Agency supervision as the minimum approach, but didn’t specify quantities, a target enrichment level or a timetable. The parties failed to reach a comprehensive agreement within the stipulated 60 days. The MoU expired in mid-August.

Military plans, civilian targets

The New Arab reported that Israel prepared a multi-day bombing campaign for the weekend of October 10, with Iranian power plants, nuclear facilities and sites associated with the Iranian government as targets. The report said U.S. President Donald Trump opposed reigniting the conflict before the November 3 U.S. midterm elections, so officials shelved the campaign. Whether the United States would have participated directly remained unclear.

A source familiar with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans called renewed U.S.-Israeli strikes in the coming weeks “not an unreasonable scenario,” adding: “There will either be a deal or an attack.” Another source told the Financial Times that Israel’s updated target list, presented during U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's visit, included civilian infrastructure not struck earlier in the year. The proposed offensive could have aimed to increase pressure on Iran in negotiations; Trump held the final decision.

White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told the newspaper the United States wouldn’t attack Iran before the midterms. Trump also said he wouldn’t launch strikes before the elections. The report’s timing raised questions about whether disclosure of the plan aimed to portray Trump as restraining Netanyahu, despite Trump’s public endorsement of the Israeli prime minister before the elections.

The conflict began on February 28, 2026, with U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Trump administration cited an imminent threat of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons. Trump later said U.S. bombing had destroyed Iran’s nuclear facilities and declared, “They cannot have a nuclear weapon.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the decision to end the war rested with Trump: “The US will not support any deal that creates a pathway for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

Arms, readiness and regional fronts

Iran’s new defense minister, Mehrdad Akhlaghi, said he was prioritizing air-defense capabilities and new technologies. “For us, responding to repeated threats is not a contest of rhetoric; it means turning threats into greater readiness and more effective defensive capabilities,” he said in a statement carried by Iranian news agency ISNA. He added: “we will eat dirt, but we will not give up our land.” The United Nations sanctioned Akhlaghi in 2007 over involvement in Iran’s ballistic missile programme.

Iranian military expert Mohammad Sadegh Alizadeh told The New Arab that lessons from previous fighting had changed tactics among the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' aerospace and naval forces and the army's air defenses. He said Iran had upgraded parts of its missile arsenal and technically improved coastal anti-ship missiles. Reports of possible purchases of hypersonic anti-ship missiles, he said, didn’t establish that Iran had acquired the weapons.

Former IRGC commander Hossein Kanani Moghaddam said Iran could respond to another attack by targeting U.S. bases and Israeli positions across the region. He cited possible strikes on Haifa, Tel Aviv and the Dimona nuclear facility. He also referred to powerful electromagnetic bombs and a missile called Rastakhiz, or Resurrection; claims about those weapons haven’t been independently verified. Senior security official Mohsen Rezaei said Iran had prepared a more destructive plan but gave no details.

IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebi suggested Iran could target seven major undersea internet cables through the Strait of Hormuz. He warned that even a limited U.S. operation could trigger a global energy crisis. Qatar and Pakistan have intensified diplomatic efforts to avert renewed conflict. Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir met Rezaei in Tehran on Tuesday.

A future escalation could involve Houthi forces in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraqi militias. Netanyahu and Israeli government ministers warned Lebanon of serious consequences if Hezbollah joined the war, including an expansion of the occupation of southern territories and renewed bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs. U.S.-Israeli strikes have hit bases belonging to Shia armed factions, which have targeted U.S. interests in Iraq and the Gulf. The apparatus keeps widening the field of possible targets as negotiations turn uranium, sanctions and a shipping strait into terms of leverage.