Donald Trump was clear about the main stumbling block after the first round of peace talks with Iran last weekend. “The meeting went well,” he said. “Most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, NUCLEAR, was not.”
Since launching the war, the US president has said he wants to stop the Islamic republic from ever building a nuclear weapon. Ending the conflict now turns on finding terms acceptable to Trump and the Islamic regime, which invested billions of dollars in a programme it sees as strategically vital.
In theory, there is a template for a deal: Iran, which has always denied seeking nuclear weapons, accepts strict limits on its nuclear activity and stringent verification in return for sanctions relief. In practice, deep mistrust and wide gaps between the two sides make this a formidable challenge.