Trump Says Talks on Iran’s Nuclear Program Are ‘Very Serious’

President Trump said on Thursday that his administration was nearing a nuclear deal with Iran, one of the key objectives of his second term.

“We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” Mr. Trump said at a business round table in Doha, Qatar, on the third day of a four-nation tour of the Middle East. “And if we do that, it’ll be fantastic.”

“Iran has sort of agreed to the terms,” he said, according to a White House pool report. “We’re getting close to maybe doing a deal.”

Exactly what that deal, and its terms, would look like remained unclear. Both sides are far from a consensus on key issues. A major sticking point is whether, under a new deal, Iran would be able to enrich uranium at a lower grade for civilian use or would have to dismantle its program completely, as the Trump administration has, at times, demanded.

Mr. Trump said he wanted Iran to become a great country, but “they can’t have a nuclear weapon.”

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Thursday at a book-signing ceremony in Tehran for his new book, “Power of Negotiations,” that Iran would never give up its right to civilian nuclear energy, adding that “none of our nuclear enrichment facilities will be dismantled.”

Mr. Araghchi and Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, have held four rounds of negotiations, mediated by Oman, which both sides have described as constructive.

On Sunday, the two countries discussed the overall American position, the red lines and what the Trump administration expected an agreement to look like, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the talks.

While Iran and the United States have engaged in direct negotiations, they have also exchanged written notes and questions that were shuffled back and forth between their separate rooms by Oman’s foreign minister.

“Both sides are trying to message intent and show real clear interest in securing a deal, so all of the back-and-forth is designed to signal positivity to keep momentum while they sort out the details of the deal,” said Sanam Vakil, the Middle East and North Africa director at Chatham House, a London-based international affairs institute.

A deal would require a compromise from both parties, Ms. Vakil said, adding that, even if Tehran and Washington came up with the principles of an agreement, it would take time to iron out the details.

Both Iran and the United States have said they want to resolve their decades-old dispute over Iran’s nuclear activities through diplomacy and are keen to avert a war.

Ali Shamkhani, an influential politician who is an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told NBC News in an interview on Wednesday that Iran was ready to commit to never building a nuclear weapon and would sign a deal with Mr. Trump “today,” in exchange for lifting sanctions.

But Mr. Shamkhani also laid out a road map mirroring the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that Mr. Trump had abandoned during his first term: Iran would export its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which can be weaponized; reduce future enrichment to a lower, civilian grade; and allow more robust international inspections.

Still, he offered an olive branch to Iran’s archenemy of nearly 45 years: “If the Americans act as they say, for sure we can have better relations,” Mr. Shamkhani told NBC News, adding, “It can lead to a better situation in the near future.”

Mr. Trump shared Mr. Shamkhani’s comments on his social media page on Thursday — a move interpreted by Iranian commentators and news media as a sign that he was willing to abandon the maximalist position of shutting down Iran’s nuclear program.

In his remarks on Thursday, Mr. Trump also heaped praise on Qatar and said that Iran was “very lucky” to have such an ally. Qatar has played the role of intermediary between the United States and Iran, and among Israel, the United States and Hamas, the militant group backed by Iran.

Mr. Trump has used his trip to Qatar to ask for help in reaching an agreement.

Iranian officials have proposed the creation of a joint nuclear-enrichment venture, involving regional Arab countries and American investments, as an alternative to Washington’s demand that it dismantle its nuclear program, according to four Iranian officials familiar with the plan. The venture would allow Tehran to enrich uranium to a low grade, below that needed for nuclear weapons, and then trade it with other Arab countries for civilian use.

But a spokesman for Mr. Witkoff denied that the proposal had come up in the talks.

During his tour of the Middle East this week, Mr. Trump has brought up the negotiations with Iran on several occasions. On Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, Mr. Trump said he was offering Tehran “a much better path toward a far better and more hopeful future.”

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