The five big sticking points in US-Iran talks

Having achieved its chokehold on this vital waterway, Iran seems determined to formalise it, calling it sovereign Iranian water and talking about a new set of rules to govern what can and can't pass through.On Thursday, it announced the creation of new transit routes, north of the two existing traffic separation channels. In a statement which played very consciously on existing fears among shipping companies, it said the new routes were necessary "to avoid the presence of various types of anti-ship mines in the main traffic zone".Amid reports that some of the ships that have made it through in recent weeks have paid a $2m (£1.5m) toll, Trump has warned that Iran "better not be charging fees to tankers".NuclearArguably the biggest, and certainly the most long-standing, bone of contention is nuclear.Trump said he was launching Operation Epic Fury, in part, to make sure Iran "can never have a nuclear weapon".Iran says it has never sought to build a bomb - a claim most western governments view with enormous scepticism – but insists that as signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, they have the right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes.Iran's 10-point proposal, which Trump described as "a workable basis on which to negotiate" includes a demand for international recognition of its enrichment rights.Trump's own 15-point plan reportedly demands that Iran "end all uranium enrichment on Iranian soil". But asked about this earlier this week, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth merely said Iran would "never had a nuclear weapon or the capability to get a path to one".It took years for international negotiators to reach the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which tackled this thorny issue in enormous detail.Are the two sides ready to discuss a new deal?Iran's Regional AlliesIran's network of regional allies and proxies – Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas in Gaza and an assortment of militias in Iraq – has given Tehran regional clout, allowing Iran to exercise what is often called "forward defence" in its long-running disputes with Israel and the United States.Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, the network Iran calls the "Axis of Resistance" has been under constant attack. One part of it, the regime of the former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, no longer exists.But Israel sees what it calls the "Axis of Evil" as representing an existential threat, which needs to be fully eradicated.At a time when the Iranian economy is buckling, many Iranians would also like to see their government spending less on foreign adventurism and more on making their lives easier.