What is Iran’s nuclear program and what does the United States and Israel want?

American and Iranian officials held indirect talks in the capital of Amman, Muscat, to try to reach a new deal on the controversial nuclear program in Iran.

Donald Trump removed the United States from a former nuclear agreement between Iran and the global authorities in 2018, and restored economic sanctions, angered Iran.

The US president warned against military action if the talks did not succeed.

Iran says its nuclear program is for civil purposes only.

He insists that he does not try to develop nuclear weapons, but many countries – as well as the International Nuclear Energy Agency, IAEA – is not convinced.

Doubts arose over Iran’s intentions when it was found that the country had secret nuclear facilities in 2002.

This broke an agreement called the Nuclear Non -Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which was signed by Iran and almost all other countries.

NPT allows countries to use non -military nuclear technology – such as medicine, agriculture and energy – but it does not allow the development of nuclear weapons.

Since the United States withdrew from the current nuclear deal – known as the joint comprehensive work plan or JCPOA – in 2018, Iran violated the main obligations, in response to the decision to restore sanctions.

She installed thousands of advanced centrifugal devices (purification machines) to enrich uranium, which was banned by JCPOA.

Nuclear weapons that are fertilized to 90 % purity require. Under JCPOA, Iran is only allowed to possess up to 300 kg (600 pounds) of enriched uranium to 3.67 % – it is sufficient for civilian nuclear energy purposes and research, but not nuclear bombs.

But by March 2025, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran has about 275 kg of uranium, which is rich to 60 % purity. This is sufficient to make about half of the weapons, should Iran be enriched on uranium?

US officials said they believe that Iran could turn into this uranium to enough weapons levels of one bomb in less than a week. However, they also said that Iran would take between two to 18 months to build a nuclear weapon. Some experts say that the “raw” device can be built in six months or less.

The United Nations, the United States and the European Union have imposed widespread economic sanctions on Iran since 2010, due to doubts that its nuclear program was used to develop a bomb.

The sanctions prevented Iran from selling oil on international markets and freezing $ 100 billion (77 billion pounds) of foreign assets in the country. Its economy decreased in stagnation and the value of its currency decreased to record its lowest levels, which in turn caused high inflation.

In 2015, Iran and six global powers – the United States, China, France, Russia, Germany and the United Kingdom agreed to JCPOA after years of negotiations.

In addition to reducing what was allowed by Iran to do its nuclear program, the International session was allowed to reach all Iranian nuclear installations and carry out suspicious sites.

On the other hand, the authorities agreed to lift the sanctions.

JCPOA has been appointed to continue for up to 15 years, after which the validity of the restrictions will end.

When Donald Trump took office in 2018, he removed the United States – which was a major column of the agreement.

He said it was a “bad deal” because it was not permanent and did not address the Iranian ballistic missile program, among other things. Trump re -imposed US sanctions as part of the “maximum pressure” campaign to force Iran to negotiate a new and expanded agreement.

Trump’s decision was affected by the regional allies of America who opposed the deal, mainly Israel.

Israel has claimed that Iran is still following a secret nuclear program, and warned that Iran would use billions of dollars in sanctions to strengthen its military activities.

It seems that Trump’s talk about talks with Iran has surprised Israel. He has long said that he will make a “better” deal than JCPOA, although Iran has so far refused to negotiate the agreement.

Trump previously warned that if Iran did not complete a new deal, “there will be a bombing.”

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said that Trump wants to “fully dismantle” the Iranian nuclear program, adding: “This is an enrichment, and this is weapons, and this is the strategic missile program.”

Iran hopes to be a deal to reduce, but not to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for the reduction of sanctions.

“Our intention is to reach a fair and honorable agreement of an equal position,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas said.

Although Trump said there would be “direct talks”, Aragchchi said that the negotiations in Amman were indirect, with a short conversation between him and the United States envoy Steve Whitvov as they left.

Aragici said that Iran is ready to interact with the United States, but Trump must first agree that there could be no “military option.”

After Trump’s announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the only acceptable deal will include Iran approval to eliminate its nuclear program. He said this means: “We go, we explode the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American supervision and implementation.”

The biggest fear of Israel would be that Trump may accept a lower compromise than Iran’s full surrender, which he could provide as a diplomatic victory.

Israel, which has not signed NPT, is supposed to have nuclear weapons, which is not confirmed or denied. It believes that Iran’s nuclear armed Iran, which does not accept Israel’s right to exist, will pose a major threat.

Both the United States and Israel have the military capabilities to bomb Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, but such an operation will be complicated and risky, with an unconfirmed result.

The main nuclear sites are buried in depth underground, which means only the strongest bombs they can reach. While the United States has these bombs, Israel is unknown.

Iran will definitely defend itself, which can include attacking American assets in the region and firing missiles in Israel.

For this type, the United States is likely to need to use its bases in the Gulf, as well as aircraft carriers.

But countries like Qatar, which hosts the largest American air base, may not agree to help it attack Iran, for fear of revenge.