Analysis-Qatar pursues US-Iranian nuclear steps after detainee swap

FILE PHOTO: Family members embrace freed Americans Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz and Emad Shargi — as well as two returnees whose names have not yet been released by the U.S. government — who were released in a prisoner swap deal between U.S and Iran, as they arrive at Davison Army Airfield at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, U.S., September 19, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/Pool/File Photo

(Reuters) - Qatar wants to capitalise on a U.S.-Iranian detainee deal that it mediated during months of delicate diplomacy to find common ground on a more intractable issue between the two hardened adversaries: the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.

Russia's war in Ukraine may have top billing at the U.N. General Assembly, but Iran's nuclear ambitions cast a shadow over the Middle East and worry the West. And as the dispute rumbles on, Tehran has steadily enriched more uranium and moved closer to Moscow by supplying drones to Russia's army.