On Saturday, Iran and the US, with the mediation of Oman, held the second round of talks over Iran's nuclear program and the possible removal of international sanctions on its economy.
Very little information has been revealed about the details of the past two meetings, what the main issues being discussed were, and the results.
However, the heads of the Iranian and US delegations have said progress was made. Moreover, Oman's Foreign Minister, Badr Albusaidi, wrote on X: "These talks are gaining momentum, and now even the unlikely is possible."
As talks seem to move slowly forward, what do the key stakeholders want?
What Donald Trump wants
On 7 March, US President Donald Trump announced that he had sent a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, offering to negotiate a nuclear deal. Since then, nuclear talks have returned to the headlines, and political factions inside Iran have begun debating the issue.
Neither side has disclosed the details of Trump's letter. However, sources close to the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Foreign Ministry, which delivered the letter to Tehran, said Trump gave Iran a two-month deadline to reach a new agreement or face military attacks.
On 20 March, Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, an academic close to the UAE Foreign Ministry, revealed more details of the letter.
He said Trump had five demands for lifting the sanctions on Iran: dismantling Iran's nuclear program, stopping uranium enrichment, ending weapons shipments to the Houthis, halting financial support for Hezbollah and dismantling the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces.
This was confirmed by Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander who is now the speaker of Iran's parliament. In a public speech, he said Trump wants the total disarmament of Iran, not just talks about the nuclear program.
After initial suggestions that the talks might include topics other than Iran's nuclear program, neither Tehran nor Washington said more about those issues.
Since then, Trump has kept his focus on Iran's nuclear program and has repeatedly said he will not allow Iran to access a bomb. He has also said he prefers making a deal with Iran over using military force.
Comments by Steve Witkoff, the United States Special Envoy to the Middle East and head of the US delegation in the nuclear talks, show that Trump wants a different deal than the one made in 2015.
After the first round of talks on 12 April, Witkoff hinted that both countries might agree on Iran enriching uranium to 3.67 per cent, as allowed in the 2015 deal. However, he later wrote on the social media platform, X: "A deal with Iran will only be completed if it is a Trump deal."
What exactly a "Trump deal" means remains unclear. However, on Sunday, Kayhan, an Iranian daily whose editor-in-chief is directly appointed by the Supreme Leader, reported that the US demands in the recent talks were less strict than those in the 2015 nuclear agreement.
"Trump's main goal is to put his name on the nuclear deal with Iran, and for that, he is willing to make compromises," the daily claimed.
What Iran wants
First and foremost, Iran joined the negotiations with the US mainly to remove the sanctions that have crippled its economy.
The US sanctions on Iran started shortly after the 1979 revolution. However, the first sanctions on Iran due to its nuclear program began in 2006, when the United Nations passed six resolutions against Iran because of its nuclear program.
Due to these sanctions, oil-rich Iran cannot sell oil, gas, or petrochemical products 'officially' and through mainstream means. Its banking system has been isolated from the global system, and companies that trade with Iran risk facing penalties from the US.
Even temporary sanctions relief would help the Iranian regime ease domestic social pressure caused by the ongoing economic crisis, while also creating an opportunity to bolster its proxy forces across the region.
The exact amount of financial support Iran provides to its regional allies remains unclear.
A report by The New Arab estimated that Iran spent between $30 billion and $50 billion on Syria during the civil war to keep the Assad regime in power.
Before the latest round of talks with the US, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, expressed his distrust of the US, saying that negotiations with the US were "neither wise nor honourable." Despite these public remarks, he permitted his foreign policy team to initiate talks with the US.
However, he set a condition for the talks: Iran would not entirely stop its nuclear program. Iran has repeatedly said that its nuclear program is peaceful and that it has no intention of building bombs.
Iran has also stated that in these talks, it will not discuss any topics other than the nuclear program.
Tehran's other primary concern is a guarantee that the US will not be able to unilaterally leave any deal made in these talks.
In 2015, Iran and world powers reached an agreement to limit uranium enrichment in the country to 3.67 per cent, in exchange for the removal of international sanctions related to its nuclear program. The deal was signed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council—the US, Russia, France, China, and the United Kingdom—as well as Germany and the European Union.
This has become a key demand, especially since Trump, during his first term, pulled the US out of the 2015 nuclear agreement and imposed over 1,000 new sanctions on Iran.
What Israel wants
Israel is the only country in the world that officially opposes any negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.
As the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons, Israel has repeatedly said it is ready to attack and destroy Iran's nuclear facilities and reportedly has plans to do so this year. It apparently did the same to Syria's nuclear site in 2007.
According to Axios, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during his 7 April meeting with Trump, said he supports a "Libya model" agreement with Iran. In 2003, Libya agreed to dismantle all its nuclear facilities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Over the past two decades, Israel has carried out several sabotage operations against Iran's nuclear facilities and has assassinated at least five Iranian nuclear scientists in an attempt to stop the program.
Israel also worked with the US to deploy the Stuxnet computer worm as a cyberweapon, which reportedly destroyed one-fifth of Iran's nuclear centrifuges in 2010.
With that in mind, Iran had publically accused Israel of seeking to "undermine" ongoing talks with the United States on its nuclear programme, a key point of tension with the West.
"A kind of coalition is forming... to undermine and disrupt the diplomatic process," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei told reporters, saying Israel was behind the effort.
"Alongside it are a series of warmongering currents in the United States and figures from different factions," the spokesman added.
Will talks succeed this time?
Previous negotiations over Iran's nuclear program have shown that such talks can be long and unpredictable. However, this time, after only two rounds of talks, a third session is scheduled for Saturday.
According to Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, "expert-level meetings" will be held in the next round to create a "framework" for a deal.
The leaders of both countries need an agreement now more than ever—Iran, because of its worsening economy and the weakening of its allies in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria.
Trump also wants a deal as a political success, after his failures to broker peace in Ukraine and to stop Israel's genocide in Palestine.
Despite the fast pace of the talks, powerful opponents of any deal remain in both capitals and could still derail the negotiations at any time.