Jane Araf

on the nuclear issue, but he makes clear that ballistic missiles are not on the table.

Iran has said that expecting it to give up its national defense assets is a demand driven by Israel, and he calls it a recipe for failure in negotiations.

So bottom line, no breakthrough is expected today.

But if more talks are scheduled, that itself is seen as progress.

The administration is also demanding that Iran stop support for militant groups in other countries.

It has demanded that it halt its crackdown on Iranian anti-government protests, in which thousands of people, mostly protesters, have been killed by security forces.

Limited protests restarted in Iran last weekend.

Ultimately, though, there's that specter of toppling the regime.

Trump in February said regime change in Iran would be the best thing that could happen.

So that really is hanging over everything.

As well as the specter of this wider war, I take it the rest of the region is dealing with that.

Things are quite tense, actually.

A lot of countries are advising their citizens to leave some countries in the Middle East while they can.

Oil prices are higher.

All of these countries in the Middle East are seen at risk because so many of them have U.S.

bases.

That's NPR's Jane Aref.

Jane, thank you.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Arakji, said he will probably meet with U.S.

envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday in Geneva in the latest negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.