Key keywords: Iran nuclear talks, Trump administration Iran policy, JCPOA revival, US-Iran diplomatic negotiations, 2024 US election foreign policy, Middle East geopolitical stability, Iranian uranium enrichment, US sanctions on Iran The closed-door talks between informal envoys of former president Donald Trump and Iranian diplomatic representatives, mediated by Omani officials in Muscat over three months, were marked by repeated walkouts, conflicting draft terms, and last-minute compromises that led to a tentative non-binding understanding earlier this month. The chaotic negotiation process saw both sides dig in on non-negotiable demands at the start: Iran pushed for the full lifting of all secondary sanctions imposed after Trump withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018, while Trump’s team insisted on irreversible cuts to Iran’s uranium enrichment program and a halt to its support for regional armed groups as preconditions for any sanction relief. After 11 rounds of on-and-off discussions, the two sides reached a narrow interim arrangement: Iran agreed to cap uranium enrichment at 60% purity, well below the 90% threshold for weapons-grade material, and allow expanded snap inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at its undeclared nuclear sites. In exchange, the US will unfreeze roughly $10 billion in Iranian assets locked in South Korean and Iraqi bank accounts, restricted for use only on humanitarian imports including medicine, food, and agricultural equipment. Trump quickly declared the arrangement a “historic foreign policy victory” at a campaign rally in Ohio last week, arguing that his hardline stance on Iran forced far greater concessions than the Biden administration was able to secure during its two years of failed JCPOA revival talks. However, multiple diplomatic sources and regional policy experts warn that the deal falls far short of delivering long-term peace in the Middle East. No formal signed document exists, and Iranian officials have already publicly disputed Trump’s framing of the terms, noting that the 60% enrichment cap is temporary and the unfrozen assets are legally Iranian property that was wrongfully seized. The arrangement does not address Iran’s ballistic missile development program, nor its support for groups including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi movement in Yemen, two core points of tension with the US and its regional ally Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already rejected the interim deal, stating that Israel will continue to take all necessary military action to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capability regardless of any US agreement. Policy analysts also note that Trump’s push to announce a victory is largely tied to his 2024 election campaign, as he looks to court conservative and pro-Israel voters by highlighting foreign policy wins ahead of November’s vote, with no clear plan to enforce the terms of the tentative understanding if he returns to office.