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US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that a new nuclear agreement with Iran was close despite persistent public disagreement over enrichment, though media reports citing sources close to the talks suggested various novel ways out of the impasse.
“We are very close to a solution,” Trump said on Wednesday. “If we can make a deal, I’d save a lot of lives," adding that Iran appears willing to engage seriously and that they had constructive discussions.
The talks mediated by Oman have entered crunch time with no date and location yet announced for a sixth round.
The United States and Iran are nearing a broad agreement on the future of Tehran’s nuclear program, CNN reported on Wednesday, with talks progressing in recent weeks toward a framework that could be finalized at a future meeting.
Washington and Tehran are considering a potential multinational consortium—possibly including regional partners and the International Atomic Energy Agency—to produce nuclear fuel for Iran’s civilian reactors and may include US investment, CNN reported citing source familiar with the talks.
A White House official, speaking to Fox News, said nothing had yet been agreed on Iran’s nuclear energy program.
Iran denies enrichment freeze proposal
Tehran says its nuclear program is purely peaceful but Western countries and its Mideast adversary Israel doubt its intentions.
Iran says it is keen to reach a nuclear deal but has maintained a right to domestic enrichment despite US demands to shutter it.
Iran on Thursday denied a Reuters report citing two Iranian officials saying they were mulling a proposal to halt uranium enrichment for a year and ship part of its highly enriched stockpile abroad or convert it into fuel plates for civilian nuclear purposes.
“The continuation of enrichment in Iran is a non-negotiable principle,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Wednesday.
The suggestion mulled by Iranian officials, according to the sources cited by Reuters, envisions the disbursement of funds frozen by Washington and the recognition of Tehran's right to enrich uranium for civilian use in return for the pause.
Meant as a political deal that could pave the way for a broader accord, the proposal not yet been floated in the talks, Reuters cited the Iranian sources as saying.
Austria on alleged Iranian nuclear arms ambitions
Austria’s domestic intelligence agency released a report this week saying Iran's program to develop nuclear arms is far advanced, in wording which appeared to outstrip that of its Western counterparts.
"Nuclear weapons are intended to make the regime untouchable and to expand and consolidate its dominance in the Near and Middle East and beyond," the Austrian Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution said in its annual report.
"The Iranian program for the development of nuclear weapons is far advanced."
The United States has publicly assessed that Iran has not yet decided to build a nuclear weapon but maintains that its nuclear program is aimed at becoming a nuclear threshold state to deter foreign attack.
The Austrian report further alleged that Tehran aims to develop long-range ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads, without citing any evidence.
"An arsenal of ballistic missiles is ready to carry nuclear warheads over long distances."
Iran open to US inspectors
In an apparent policy shift, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said Tehran may reconsider its longstanding ban on US nuclear inspectors if current talks with Washington lead to a successful agreement.
Mohammad Eslami said American inspectors affiliated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could be allowed into Iranian sites under a future deal, despite current restrictions on personnel from adversary states.
“It is normal that inspectors from hostile countries are not allowed, but if a nuclear deal is reached, we might allow American inspectors,” Eslami said.
Later on Wednesday, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said any deal between Tehran and Washington that would impose fresh nuclear curbs on Iran should include very robust inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog.
"My impression is that if you have that type of agreement, a solid, very robust inspection by the IAEA ... should be a prerequisite," he said.
"I'm sure it will be, because it would imply a very, very serious commitment on the part of Iran, which must be verified."
US officials have repeatedly said that any new nuclear deal with Iran to replace a lapsed 2015 accord between Tehran and six world powers must include a commitment to halt enrichment, viewed as a potential pathway to developing nuclear bombs.
Iran's stockpile of 60% enriched uranium had increased to 275 kg, enough to theoretically make about half a dozen weapons if Iran further enriches the uranium.
Trump has previously warned that if no agreement is reached, military options remain on the table. “We can blow up a lab,” he said, referring to a hypothetical enforcement scenario under a possible inspection regime, “but nobody’s going to be in the lab.”
Trump, speaking to reporters, also confirmed that he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to interfere with ongoing US-Iran negotiations.
The comments followed a New York Times report citing Israeli officials saying the Jewish State was preparing for a potential strike on Iranian nuclear sites even if Tehran and Washington clinch a deal.
An Iranian outlet close to the country’s Supreme National Security Council accused the United States on Thursday of using media tactics to pressure Tehran ahead of the next round of nuclear negotiations.
NourNews wrote on X that “media hype and early remarks by senior US officials” about the yet-to-be-finalized sixth round of talks are aimed at pressuring the Iranian negotiating team.
“The outcome will be decided at the table, after securing both sides' interests—not through media spin,” the post said.
The United States and Iran are nearing a broad agreement on the future of Tehran’s nuclear program, with talks progressing in recent weeks toward a framework that could be finalized at a planned meeting in the Middle East, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources familiar with the discussions.
Negotiators have made headway on key issues, particularly uranium enrichment, which remains the central point of contention, according to the report.
Sources told CNN that one proposal under consideration would involve the creation of a multinational consortium—possibly including regional partners and the International Atomic Energy Agency—to produce nuclear fuel for Iran’s civilian reactors. The US may also contribute to Iran’s nuclear energy infrastructure as part of a broader agreement, though no final decisions have been made.
The ballistic missile issue is not part of the current negotiations, and sources said the US team, led by special envoy Steve Witkoff, is focused solely on the nuclear file to avoid complicating the process.
Austria’s domestic intelligence service believes Iran is actively pursuing a nuclear weapons program and expanding its missile capabilities, according to a report published by Fox News on Wednesday.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Austria’s equivalent of the FBI, said in a newly released report that Iran is seeking to rearm as part of a broader strategy to assert regional dominance and deter external threats.
The report describes Iran’s nuclear weapons development as “well advanced” and says Tehran now possesses a growing arsenal of ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads over long distances.
Fox News, which reviewed the report, said it contradicts the current US intelligence assessment. In March, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the United States believes Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has not revived the program suspended in 2003.
The Austrian agency’s report also highlights Iran’s efforts to evade international sanctions, provide weapons to proxy groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, and use diplomatic cover in Vienna for intelligence activity. The Iranian embassy in Vienna is one of the largest that the Islamic Republic maintains in Europe.
The Islamic Republic has entered a new phase of security governance—one where control is no longer maintained solely through arrests and bullets, but through data analysis, surveillance, and information engineering.
This shift from overt violence to algorithmic discipline is framed in official discourse as “smartification” and “psychological security”—buzzwords that mask a deeper objective: building a more efficient, anticipatory system of social control.
As Iran negotiates with the United States abroad, it is preparing for a future at home without a deal. Figures once tainted by high-level corruption—such as Babak Zanjani—are now rhetorically rehabilitated as symbols of national resilience, reflecting a broader effort to rebrand dysfunction as discipline.
Authorities are deploying everything from internet monitoring and mobile signal tracking to facial recognition, shop surveillance, and even mandatory in-home cameras to build a digital control society. The goal: neutralize dissent before it begins.
This new architecture of repression aims to present a softer, even “benevolent” face of policing—one nearly invisible thanks to smart technologies. The result is a seamless, predictive regime designed not only to watch citizens, but to sort, anticipate, and contain them.
Policing internet, profiling people
In recent years, the Islamic Republic has adopted a more systematized and technical approach to digital control.
A clear marker of this trend was the resolution passed by the Supreme Council of Cyberspace in January 2025. While billed as a plan to “lift filtering,” the directive in practice expands regulation of online activity.
It authorizes the government, along with the Ministry of Culture and the Judiciary, to police “criminal content,” restrict VPNs, and penalize the spread of so-called “fake news.”
This legislative tightening is matched by tactical enforcement. During protests in Izeh in March 2024, authorities imposed localized internet shutdowns that left hundreds of thousands offline. These quiet, surgical disruptions have become a recurring method of quelling unrest.
In parallel, authorities deactivated SIM cards of journalists, activists, and political users—targeting not speech, but connection itself.
The same tools are now used to enforce dress codes. In Isfahan, authorities reportedly use contactless payment readers and surveillance cameras to identify women who defy compulsory hijab.
Threatening messages are sent not only to the women, but to their families—a form of psychological policing that leverages fear and shame.
Urban surveillance, algorithmic control
These measures show no sign of slowing. In May 2025, traffic police announced plans to use facial recognition for pedestrian violations—a tool once limited to license plates now trained on people.
In October 2024, the national police (FARAJA) began equipping 50,000 officers with body cameras that livestream to command centers, turning patrols into mobile surveillance nodes.
Surveillance is also extending into the private sector. Under the “Septam” system launched in late 2024, businesses must install cameras linked to law enforcement to receive operating licenses.
In April 2025, building codes were updated to require surveillance cameras in any residential or commercial complex with four or more units. The state now watches not just public streets but the thresholds of private homes.
These initiatives fall under the “Police Smartification” plan outlined in the FARAJA Architecture Document. Though couched in the language of public service, its purpose is unmistakable: to restructure digital and urban life for maximum predictability and control.
Pre-empting dissent
The driver behind this system is not technological ambition—it is fear. Officials anticipate the return of mass protests, spurred by economic hardship, power outages, and the possible failure of negotiations.
In response, they are building a pre-emptive framework of repression, where law and policing blur, and surveillance becomes the default mode of governance.
This strategy does not merely suppress resistance—it aims to erase the very possibility of it. By severing communication, dissolving public and digital spaces, and inducing despair, the state hopes to prevent disobedience not just in action, but in thought.
If realized, Iran will not merely be a surveillance state—it will be an anticipatory one. A state where individuals are profiled, categorized, and neutralized before they act.Where repression no longer wears a uniform, but operates silently—to predict and pre-empt dissent.
