Iran has moved the nuclear dispute back to the center of the war-ending talks. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday that Tehran has not agreed with Washington on terms for its enriched uranium and that the issue has become so difficult both sides have effectively pushed it to a later stage of negotiations, according to ABC News.
“The subject of our enriched material is a very complicated one,” Araghchi told reporters in New Delhi. He said Iran and the United States had reached “almost” a deadlock on that question and that, “for the time being, it is not under discussion, it’s not under negotiation.”
That is a meaningful shift from the earlier public fight over whether Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz or accept a broad nuclear limit. The new problem is narrower and more dangerous: what happens to Iran’s enriched material, and whether either side trusts the other enough to define it in a binding deal.
Iran says trust is the main obstacle
Araghchi also said Tehran has “no trust” in the United States and would negotiate only if Washington is serious, NBC News reported. He cited “contradictory messages” from the U.S. and said Pakistan’s mediation had not failed, but was in “difficulty.”
The talks have already been suspended since Iran and the U.S. each rejected the other’s latest proposal last week. NBC reported that the key disputes include Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its control of the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway that normally carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas flows.
In a separate live update, CBS News quoted Araghchi as saying Iran “cannot trust the Americans at all” and that “everything must be precise and clearly defined before any agreement can be concluded.” He described the ceasefire as “shaky” but said Iran was trying to maintain it to give diplomacy a chance.
The uranium issue is no longer theoretical
The dispute over enriched material matters because it goes beyond slogans about preventing a nuclear weapon. A deal can say Iran must not build a bomb, but negotiators still have to decide what happens to existing enriched uranium, what level of enrichment is allowed, who verifies compliance, and what penalties follow if either side breaks the agreement.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly framed the issue in harder terms. ABC reported that Trump said Iran could “make a deal or get annihilated” and warned that if Iran tried to access enriched uranium at targeted nuclear sites, the U.S. would strike. CBS reported that Trump said he could accept a 20-year suspension of Iran’s nuclear program, but only with a “real” commitment from Tehran.
That creates a difficult negotiating trap. Washington wants enforceable nuclear limits before easing pressure. Tehran says it will not accept vague language from a government it distrusts. If enriched material is postponed to a later stage, the talks may avoid immediate collapse, but the central issue remains unresolved.
Hormuz is still part of the bargaining
The nuclear deadlock is also tied to the Strait of Hormuz. Araghchi said Friday that all vessels can pass through Hormuz except those belonging to countries at war with Iran, while vessels seeking transit should coordinate with Iran’s navy, according to NBC. The U.S. position is that the strait must reopen without Iranian military control, tolls, or selective access.
Trump, speaking after his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, said the U.S. “control[s]” the strait and that Xi also wants Iran to reopen it, CBS reported. Beijing’s public statements have been more cautious, but Washington is trying to use China’s dependence on Gulf energy and Iranian oil to pressure Tehran.
For Iran, keeping Hormuz restrictions in place gives it leverage while nuclear terms remain unresolved. For the U.S., reopening the strait is part of proving that the blockade and air campaign forced Tehran back toward a deal. That is why the enriched-material deadlock is not just a technical nuclear issue. It could decide whether the ceasefire becomes a real negotiation or another pause before the war expands again.
What to watch next
The next signal is whether Pakistan can restart direct or indirect talks with a narrower agenda. If both sides keep the enriched-material question postponed, they may try to build an interim framework around Hormuz access, monitoring, and sanctions relief. But if Washington insists on settling uranium terms first, or Tehran treats U.S. demands as surrender terms, the diplomatic track could stall quickly.
Araghchi’s comments do not mean diplomacy is over. They do mean the easy language is gone. The fight is now over the hard parts of a deal: enriched material, verification, timing, and whether either side believes the other will keep its word.
Sources: ABC News, NBC News, CBS News.