US, Iran Continue Talks via Intermediaries, Nuclear Deal Required

The mechanism here matters more than the rhetoric: talks are running through intermediaries rather than direct channels, which suggests both sides want deniability and room to walk away. Linking sanctions relief and unfrozen assets explicitly to nuclear progress reframes the whole negotiation as conditional, not incremental. The open question is whether intermediary messaging can carry enough specificity to produce anything verifiable, and whether any easing of sanctions would be sequenced against nuclear steps or granted upfront.