Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the country’s clerical establishment have agreed to restart nuclear negotiations with the United States, according to Reuters sources familiar with internal deliberations. Insiders said the leadership now views talks as essential to the Islamic Republic’s survival after recent military and diplomatic setbacks. The shift follows U.S. and Israeli air strikes in June that damaged three underground nuclear facilities and killed senior Revolutionary Guard personnel, exposing Iran’s military vulnerabilities. Faced with warnings from Washington and Jerusalem that further uranium enrichment would invite more strikes, Tehran’s rulers concluded that diplomacy offers the only viable path to avert escalation. President Masoud Pezeshkian has publicly argued that resuming dialogue “does not mean surrender,” countering hard-line critics who call negotiations a strategic trap. While details of a potential negotiating framework remain unclear, the consensus inside Iran’s power structure marks the most significant opening for renewed talks with Washington since the breakdown of efforts earlier this year.