Iran-US Talks: Reformists Silenced at Home as Iran Pursues Nuclear Dialogue Abroad

The Iranian government is simultaneously suppressing its reformist opposition at home and pursuing nuclear diplomacy abroad — a combination that illustrates the deep contradictions at the heart of the Islamic Republic’s current political moment. On Tuesday, as Foreign Minister Araghchi reported progress in Geneva, the judiciary confirmed that over 10,000 protesters had been summoned for trial and prominent reformist politicians remained behind bars.
Araghchi described the second round of indirect nuclear talks — facilitated by Oman in Geneva — as more constructive than the first and confirmed that agreement had been reached on guiding principles. Both sides committed to exchanging draft texts and meeting again in roughly two weeks, a procedural step that signaled the talks were moving beyond preliminary exploration.
The nuclear substance of the session covered Iran’s enrichment programme, its near-weapons-grade uranium stockpile, and IAEA verification. Iran offered to dilute its 60% enriched material and expand international oversight, presenting these as meaningful steps toward a negotiated solution that preserved Iran’s right to a civilian nuclear programme.
The US continued to demand a complete halt to domestic enrichment — Iran’s red line — and comprehensive IAEA access. Iran accepted verification in principle while rejecting the enrichment halt, leaving the core disagreement intact. Both sides agreed to narrow the gap further in the next round, at which point actual written positions would be on the table.
Inside Iran, the silencing of the reformist movement cast a particular shadow over the diplomatic proceedings. The group around former Prime Minister Mousavi — who had spent his 16th year under house arrest — was being suppressed even as it called for a democratic and peaceful transition. Politicians arrested for claiming that security services may have run false-flag operations were being tried for propaganda. The government that negotiated in Geneva was, at home, doing everything it could to ensure that no domestic political alternative to itself could gain traction.