U.S. Resume Talks with Iran Over Nuke Program as Tehran Targets U.S. Troops in Syria

As tensions between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States and its Western European allies increase, reports indicate the Biden administration, including U.S. Special Envoy to Iran Robert Malley, held meetings last week with Iran officials to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement revoked under the Trump administration.

According to reports, Western diplomats familiar with the latest push by Washington and the European Union (E.U.), say there is a need to act diplomatically to "tackle Iran's nuclear program, rather than allow it to drift."

Many European officials are worried that Iran's decision to hide their recent nuclear activities could ignite a war against Israel in a region already engulfed in chaos and discord.

In the past few weeks, Robert Malley met with the Islamic Republic's U.N. Ambassador Amir Saied Iravani, a senior official at Iran's Supreme National Security Council, before being sent to New York in September of last year.

Speaking to the Financial Times, a U.S. State Department Spokesperson said the agency has "the means to communicate with Iran and deliver messages to them when it is in America's interest to do so."

Speaking to the Times, a U.S. diplomat familiar with the recent talks said that the issue of prisoner swaps between Tehran and Washington "is going to be an opener for the talks."

The officials noted that it is not likely that a nuclear deal would come about, but "there could be some sort of interim thing, or a freeze."'

Some officials say that one aspect of an interim deal between Tehran and Washington could involve unfreezing Tehran's assets stored in Seoul, South Korea.

Another U.S. official who spoke to the Times said that Washington always thought diplomacy with Tehran was the "best way" to "verifiably and durably ensure Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon." The same officials said the U.S. government is not announcing anything yet and has not "removed any option from the table."

The latest revelations from Washington come as last week new classified information from American intelligence officials revealed that the Islamic Republic was arming militants in Syria for a new phase of deadly attacks against American troops while working with Russia to drive U.S. influence from the region.

According to classified intelligence reports, Tehran and its regional allies are creating and training forces to use powerful armor-piercing roadside bombs to target American military vehicles and kill U.S. personnel.

Officials say such attacks are not new, given Tehran's long-running campaign of using proxy militias to launch rocket and drone strikes on U.S. forces in Syria.

The classified document revealed new efforts by Moscow, Damascus, and Tehran to push the U.S. from Syria, allowing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to reconquer eastern Syrian provinces currently controlled by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces.

In addition to Iran's increasing support for Islamic militias against American forces, Western officials are concerned over the regime's enrichment of uranium needed to create a nuclear weapon.

Despite the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announcing that it no longer had questions on particles found at Iran's nuclear site in Fordow, Israeli government officials have made it clear to American and European counterparts that Tehran seeks to create a nuclear arsenal capable of deterring attacks against foreign enemies and to destroy the Jewish state.

Following the death of 22-year-old Masha Amini at the hands of the Islamic Republic's morality police, Iranian Americans and Europeans called on the West to cease any negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program and stand with the people of Iran by taking a tougher stance against the ayatollahs in power through economic sanctions.

With Malley's latest overtures to Tehran, experts say the moves are a direct betrayal towards the Iranian people who are currently suffering under the regime's iron fist as they call for a free and democratic Iran that respects the rights of all individuals.