Will the U.S. be able to halt Iran's uranium enrichment?

President Trump on Thursday repeated his claim that a deal to end the war on Iran is “very close” and that direct talks with Iran could resume in Pakistan as soon as this weekend.

(Despite the claims, the Pentagon is surging thousands of additional troops to the Middle East, including an additional 6,000 sailors and aviators joining the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier battle group. Around 4,200 others with the Navy and Marines are expected to arrive near the end of the month.)

The main question on the negotiating table, says Ali Vaez, Iran project leader at the International Crisis Group, is whether the Iranians, who “have been saying for years that they don’t want nuclear weapons,” will curb their nuclear activity, and if so, whether the U.S. would “be willing to provide them with economic incentives and sanctions relief.”