“Saudi Arabia Opposed Obama’s Deal With Iran. It Supports Trump’s. Why?,” NYT, 4-20-25.

“Moscow may gain key role in Iran nuclear deal as US talks progress,” Guardian, 4-20-25.  The U.S. wants a deal.  So does SArabia.  And the UAE.  And Russia wants a slice of the action.  ““The two most daunting issues are the storage or destruction of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and the external guarantees that can be provided to Iran if the US was to breach an agreement to lift economic sanctions in return for Iran putting its civil nuclear programme back under external supervision by the UN inspectorate, the IAEA. Iran wants a guarantee of consequences for the US if it pulls out of or breaches another deal. Iran wants to keep its uranium stockpiles inside the country, but the US rejects this and wants either the stockpiles’ destruction or a transfer to a third country, such as Russia. … On guarantees, Iran believes the only secure agreement is a treaty signed by US Congress, but Araghchi was told it would be anyone’s guess whether Trump could get such an agreement through Congress given the strength of pro-Israeli opinion there. … Such an arrangement potentially gives Russia a pivotal role in the future US-Iran relationship, and might freeze out Germany, France and the UK, the current guarantors of the 2015 agreement. Neither Iran nor the US want to keep a major future role for the UN.”

“US, Iran set third round of nuclear talks – what’s next? – analysis,” JPost, 4-20-25.