Iran and the United States are weighing holding a second round of talks over Tehran`s nuclear program after Israel launched a 12-day war on the country in June and the Islamic Republic carried out a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

U.S. President Donald Trump has kept up pressure on Iran, moving an aircraft carrier and other military assets to the Persian Gulf and suggesting the U.S. could attack Iran over the killing of peaceful demonstrators or if Tehran launches mass executions over the protests.
    
Trump has pushed Iran`s nuclear program back into the frame as well after the June war disrupted five rounds of talks held in Rome and Muscat, Oman, last year. Trump also has suggested sending a second carrier to the region.
    
A top Iranian security official, Ali Larijani, visited Oman this week and traveled onto Qatar, just after Trump called its ruling emir. It remains unclear how — or if more talks will happen, though Mideast nations fear a collapse in diplomacy could spark a new regional war. US concerns also have gone beyond Iran`s nuclear program to its ballistic missiles, support for proxy networks across the region and other issues.
    
Iran has said it wants talks to focus solely on the nuclear program. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has insisted that his nation was “not seeking nuclear weapons and are ready for any kind of verification.” However, the United Nations` nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — has been unable for months to inspect and verify Iran`s nuclear stockpile.
    
Trump began the diplomacy initially by writing a letter last year to Iran`s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to jump start these talks. Khamenei has warned Iran would respond to any attack with an attack of its own, particularly as the theocracy he commands reels following the protests.
    
Here`s what to know about Iran`s nuclear program and the tensions that have stalked relations between Tehran and Washington since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. 
    
Trump writes letter to Khamenei
     
Trump dispatched the letter to Khamenei on March 5, 2025, then gave a television interview the next day in which he acknowledged sending it. He said: “I`ve written them a letter saying, I hope you`re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it`s going to be a terrible thing.`”
    
Since returning to the White House, the president has been pushing for talks while ratcheting up sanctions and suggesting a military strike by Israel or the U.S. could target Iranian nuclear sites.
    
A previous letter from Trump during his first term drew an angry retort from the supreme leader. But Trump`s letters to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his first term led to face-to-face meetings, though no deals to limit Pyongyang`s atomic bombs and a missile program capable of reaching the continental US.
        
Oman mediated previous talks
     
Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, has mediated talks between Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. The two men have met face to face after indirect talks, a rare occurrence due to the decades of tensions between the countries.
    
It hasn`t been all smooth, however. Witkoff at one point made a television appearance in which he suggested 3.67 percent enrichment for Iran could be something the countries could agree on. But that`s exactly the terms set by the 2015 nuclear deal struck under former U.S. President Barack Obama, from which Trump unilaterally withdrew America. Witkoff, Trump and other American officials in the time since have maintained Iran can have no enrichment under any deal, something to which Tehran insists it won`t agree.
    
Those negotiations ended, however, with Israel launching the war in June on Iran. It hosted a new first round of talks on Feb. 6.