Iran-US nuclear talks end without breaking the deadlock

Indirect negotiations between Iran and the US over Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers ended on Wednesday in Qatar after failing to make significant progress amid a growing crisis over Iran's atomic program.

European Union mediator Enrique Mora described the two days of talks in Doha as intense. US special representative Robert Malley spoke to the Iranians through Mr Mora during the talks. Mr Mora then took messages to Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani.

Mr Mora’s comments came hours after the semi-official Tasnim news agency, believed to be close to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), described the negotiations as finished hours before they ended and having “no effect on breaking the deadlock in the talks”.

The Doha talks took place months after talks in Vienna among all parties to the deal were paused. In the time since, Iran shut off surveillance cameras set up by international inspectors in response to a resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rebuking Tehran for its undeclared nuclear work.

Tehran continues to suffer under intense economic sanctions while the West again hopes to curtail Iran’s nuclear program.

Iranian opposition and human rights activists blame poor governance and the use of the country's limited resources to support proxies in the region for deteriorating living conditions at home.