Weitz: US-Iran talks drags on without much breakthrough due to them being indirect

According to Aljazeera News, nearly a year of indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran has failed to produce a meaningful breakthrough, with the cumbersome format and uncompromising positions keeping both sides locked in a diplomatic stalemate, according to a senior analyst.

Richard Weitz, a professor at the NATO Defence College in Rome, told Al Jazeera that the prolonged back-channel discussions mediated by Oman and Qatar have reached a frustrating impasse. Despite multiple rounds of shuttle diplomacy, no tangible progress has been made on reviving the 2015 nuclear accord or securing a prisoner exchange.

“US-Iran talks are dragging on without much breakthrough due to them being indirect,” Weitz said, pointing to the inherent inefficiencies of messaging through intermediaries.

He added that Washington faces internal political pressure not to concede to Tehran’s core demands. “Washington can’t accept some of Tehran’s hardline demands “particularly those linked to permanent sanctions relief and guarantees against future US withdrawals from any new agreement.

Iranian officials have insisted on verifiable and irreversible lifting of all post-2018 sanctions, while the US has offered only limited waivers in exchange for nuclear rollbacks. The indirect nature of the dialogue, Weitz explained, has amplified mistrust, with each side misinterpreting the other’s proposals through filtered channels.

The stalemate persists despite intermittent prisoner releases and humanitarian gestures. European intermediaries have grown increasingly frustrated, urging direct engagement, a step both capitals have so far refused.

Weitz warned that without a shift to face-to-face talks, the window for a diplomatic solution is narrowing. Iran uranium enrichment now approaches weapons-grade levels, while US military assets remain deployed in the Gulf.

For now, indirect talks continue in technical working groups, but as Weitz summarized, “the format itself has become a barrier, not a bridge.” With no end in sight, the risk of escalation whether through nuclear brinkmanship or regional confrontation only deepens.

COURTESY: Ummu-Jamal-Uddin