The first meeting between the United States and Iran over its expanding nuclear program on Saturday displayed a seriousness of purpose and an effort to avoid what neither side wants, another war in the Middle East. They will talk again next Saturday, but the hard work lies ahead, as hard-liners in both countries, and Israel, are expected to balk at most any deal.

If the first nuclear deal, reached in 2015, was prompted by Iran’s desire to rid itself of punishing economic sanctions, these talks have more urgency. Iran, battered by Israel and with its regional proxies diminished, still wants economic relief. But it also understands that the Islamic Republic itself is under threat and that President Trump, who pulled out of the first deal because he thought it was too weak, may not be bluffing about Iran’s facing “bombing the likes of which they’ve never seen before.”

And Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has given his negotiators at least one last chance to trade Iran’s nuclear ambitions for lasting security.

The talks in Oman also promised some efficiency. The 2015 deal was struck between Iran and six countries — the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany, with the European Union playing the role of intermediary — and took two years.

This time the talks are bilateral, with the Europeans but also Russia and China on the sidelines. And although the United States remains “the Great Satan” for Ayatollah Khamenei, it also holds the key to restraining Israel and securing any lasting settlement. While Iran insisted on indirect talks through Oman, and Mr. Trump on direct talks, the two sides managed to fudge the issue, with Mr. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, talking directly to Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, as the meeting ended.

“This is as good a start as it gets,” said Ali Vaez, Iran project director for the International Crisis Group. “They could have stumbled, but they agreed to meet again, they met together at the end and they agreed on the ultimate objective.”

Importantly, Mr. Trump and Mr. Witkoff indicated that their real bottom line is ensuring that Iran can never build a nuclear weapon — despite harsh demands from Trump officials before the talks that Iran dismantle its nuclear program entirely as well as abandon its missile program and its support for its regional proxies.

Iran had made it clear that such broad demands would leave it defenseless and would end the talks before they began. So limiting the goal to ensuring that Iran can never build a nuclear bomb, if the administration sticks with that, would sharply enhance the talks’ chance of success.

“The Iranians came prepared for more than an icebreaker, but with the expectation to break the logjam with the U.S., and most important, to hear directly what is the real U.S. bottom line,” said Vali Nasr, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. “If it’s no weapon, then they can negotiate on levels of enrichment, inspections and so on. But Iran does not want to get into a situation where it cannot deliver and risk more sanctions and war,” he said. “What Iran wants is pretty clear: credible sanction relief and a deal that sticks.”

Iran insists that its nuclear program is solely civilian, but it has enriched enough uranium close to weapons-grade quality to make at least six bombs, according to data from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which implements the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that Iran has signed.

Despite their mistrust of Mr. Trump, the Iranians think he would be better able to guarantee the sustainability of a deal that he makes and face down his own Republican hard-liners, Mr. Nasr said. The Iranians never trusted President Joseph R. Biden Jr. “to follow through and avoid being undermined by Congress,” he said.

“We’re in the best place we could be after this meeting,” said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House. There were positive statements from both sides around a plan to move forward, she said, and “a mutual understanding about the urgency required, the opportunity presented and signs of pragmatism from both sides.”

The she added, “Of course, the hard stuff lies ahead.”

A serious deal will be enormously complicated and technical, and it will take time. It would also need to survive efforts to undermine the talks by hard-liners in both countries and in Israel. Israel, which opposed the 2015 deal, wants a more comprehensive disarmament of Iran and keeps talking about the need to strike it militarily now, when the regime is weak and its air defenses have been badly compromised by Israeli airstrikes.

Iran has in the past vowed to destroy Israel, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel says he wants Iran to no longer be able to enrich any uranium at all. Israel, citing the Hamas attack in Gaza, has badly damaged Iranian proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and wants to try to ensure that Iran cannot rebuild them.

But Iran may also be encouraged that Mr. Trump announced the talks in the Oval Office next to Mr. Netanyahu, who did not look or sound very pleased about them. Iran will see “a powerful signal from Trump that he’s not owned by Netanyahu,” Mr. Nasr said.

The hope is that a next meeting or two can produce an interim agreement that gives both sides confidence to move forward, with short-term measures from both sides so long as the talks continue. They could include Iran’s agreeing to freeze uranium enrichment and allow more inspections in return for Washington’s suspending some of its “maximum pressure” sanctions.

Iran is likely to insist on a step-by-step process that could take several years, Mr. Nasr said, “to help the deal grow roots before someone else comes into office and tried to undo it.” A longer process would also provide more security for Iran.

Still, Iran has no reason to stretch out the talks themselves. “Iran’s leverage is its nuclear enrichment, and more time won’t give them more leverage,” Mr. Vaez said. And then there is “the ticking time bomb of the snapback sanctions.”

Those sanctions, suspended under the 2015 deal, can be restored if any signatory — in this case, the Europeans — decides that there is no new deal or significant progress toward one. But that must happen before Oct. 18, when the ability to “snap back” expires. Officials say that the Europeans are exploring whether that deadline can be delayed, but the mechanism to do that is unclear.

In any case, the analysts agree, Iran does not want to be blamed for the failure of these talks. If they do fail and war ensues, the regime wants to be able to blame American perfidy and bad faith.

So if a deal can be done, Iran will want guarantees this time that it will be durable and deliver commercial engagement in a meaningful and long-term way, Ms. Vakil said. Iran will want to know “how Trump can guarantee protection that other presidents have been unable to do.”

And the United States, she said, will want to know what guarantees Iran can provide for the security of Israel and the stability of the larger Middle East.

“A deal must be mutually beneficial, but it requires a lot of trust and accountability along the way that both sides simply don’t have right now,” she said.

The governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, said he and his family were evacuated from their home early on Sunday after an arson attack that significantly damaged a section of the governor’s official residence.

Mr. Shapiro, a Democrat, said on social media that the Pennsylvania State Police woke his family by banging on the door around 2 a.m. to warn them of the fire. He said no one was injured.

The State Police and the Pennsylvania Capitol Police evacuated his family while firefighters extinguished the fire, the governor said.

“Every day, we stand with the law enforcement and first responders who run towards danger to protect our communities,” the governor said. “Last night, they did so for our family — and Lori and I are eternally grateful to them for keeping us safe.”

The State Police said in a statement that the fire caused “a significant amount of damage to a portion of the residence.”

The police did not identify a suspect and said an investigation was underway.

Hours before the fire, Mr. Shapiro wrote on social media that he and his family were marking Passover, which began at sunset on Saturday.

Images posted on social media showed firefighters battling the fire. A portion of the mansion was obscured in dark smoke, and some windows were shattered.

Mr. Shapiro, a Democrat, gained national prominence last year when he was on the short list of possible running mates for Vice President Kamala Harris on the Democratic presidential ticket. She eventually chose Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.

Mr. Shapiro’s nearly two decades in public office includes six years as the state’s attorney general. He was elected governor in 2022.

The governor’s residence is a 29,000-square-foot Georgian-style home on the Susquehanna River, according to the state government. Its landscaped grounds occupy a full block about a mile and a half from the State Capitol complex. Eight governors have lived there with their families since it was completed in 1968.

The public is able to tour the residence, which exhibits art and artifacts on the first floor.

A renovation of the property was completed in 2022 to make it more accessible to people with mobility issues and more environmentally friendly, The Patriot-News reported.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Two Russian ballistic missiles slammed into a bustling city center in northeastern Ukraine on Sunday morning, officials said, killing at least 32 people in what appeared to be the deadliest attack against civilians this year.

The midmorning strike on the city of Sumy was the latest in a string of intensifying Russian attacks on urban centers in Ukraine that have inflicted heavy civilian casualties despite the Trump administration’s push for a cease-fire.

Officials said the city center was crowded with civilians out enjoying Palm Sunday, a Christian celebration popular in Ukraine, when the missiles hit. Lively streets were turned into scenes of carnage: Video of the aftermath showed mangled and bloodied bodies laying motionless, burning cars and debris covering the road as screams and sirens wailed in the background.

Two children were among the dead and at least 99 people were wounded, according to Ukraine’s emergency services.

“People were harmed right in the middle of the street — in cars, on public transport, in their homes,” the interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, lamented on social media.

The strikes came just over a week after a Russian missile hit near a playground in the central city of Kryvyi Rih, killing 19 people, including nine children. In that attack and in the one on Sunday, according to Ukrainian officials, Russia used ballistic missiles, which travel at high speeds, making them very difficult to shoot down.

Overall, civilian deaths have increased since U.S.-mediated cease-fire talks began in March. The United Nations said last week that 164 civilians were killed in Ukraine last month, a 50 percent increase from February and 70 percent more than the same period a year earlier.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine — who has accused Russia of using the cease-fire talks to stall for time — said the attack on Sumy showed that Moscow had no real interest in a cease-fire despite the Trump administration’s efforts to broker one.

“A strong reaction from the world is needed. From the United States, from Europe, from everyone in the world who wants this war and the killings to end,” Mr. Zelensky said in a message posted on Telegram. “Russia seeks exactly this kind of terror and is dragging out the war.”

Both Russia and Ukraine have pledged to halt attacks on energy infrastructure, only to accuse each other of violations. Kyiv and Moscow have also agreed to a cease-fire on the Black Sea, but a deal has yet to come into effect. Russia has also rejected a full, unconditional 30-day cease-fire that Ukraine had accepted at the urging of the United States.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said on Saturday that since cease-fire talks began last month in Saudi Arabia, Russia “only escalated its attacks on Ukrainian civilian objects and increased missile terror, including strikes on energy facilities.”

“This is Russia’s response to all peace proposals,” Mr. Sybiha told the state news agency Ukrinform. “They delay, manipulate, and play with their partners to continue aggression.”

Ukraine’s allies echoed those sentiments on Sunday in what appeared to be a coordinated response to condemn the strike on Sumy.

“Everyone knows: this war was initiated by Russia alone. And today, it is clear that Russia alone chooses to continue it — with blatant disregard for human lives, international law, and the diplomatic efforts of President Trump,” President Emmanuel Macron of France said on social media.

There was no immediate comment from Russia’s military about the attack on Sumy, located just 18 miles from the Russian border. Before the war, the city was home to about 250,000 people. It has since become a refuge for Ukrainian civilians fleeing villages and towns along the Russian border to escape bombardment and potential assaults.

Sumy and its surrounding region have regularly come under Russian attack over the past year, particularly since Ukraine used the area as a base for a cross-border offensive into Russia’s neighboring Kursk region. Moscow’s forces pushed most Ukrainian troops out of Kursk this year, but Kyiv has warned that Russia is preparing to push into the Sumy region and open a new front in the war.

Valeria Voronenko, a 24-year-old Sumy resident, rushed to the scene of the strike on Sunday. She said she had seen one woman running around, searching for her mother, and another clutching a crying child — both with bloodied faces.

“The whole atmosphere — people shouting, crying,” she said. “It was chaos.”

Ms. Voronenko said locals had grown accustomed to attacks and the buzz of Russian drone flying overhead, but that Sunday’s assault was “the worst tragedy” the city had experienced over three years of war.

“We’re hoping for negotiations,” she said, “for everything to end.”

Buoyed by the interests of the family behind Walmart, Bentonville has become an unexpected hub for cycling.

WHY WE’RE HERE

We’re exploring how America defines itself one place at a time. In Bentonville, Ark., a thriving off-road biking network has drawn residents and tourists alike into mountain and gravel biking.

April 13, 2025

Listen for the click of a bike gear, shifting in tune with its rider. A whoosh of air as tires lift off the ground, then a satisfying thud as the bike returns to earth. The clack of a cyclist’s cleats, fresh off a ride, in the downtown square.

This is the soundtrack to Bentonville, a city of about 60,000 near the state’s border with Missouri that has dozens of immaculately kept trails for every level of biker.

“Pure joy — it’s the reason I got up at 6 o’clock this morning to be out here,” said Dani Shamburger, 33, pausing during an early Sunday ride in the woods a few miles from the city’s center. “It’s my sanctuary.”

The investment in biking has come largely from the billionaire Walton family and its business, Walmart, which is headquartered in Bentonville.

Over more than a decade, Tom and Steuart Walton, grandsons of the Walmart founder, have steered at least $74 million through the family foundation toward the construction of 163 miles of paths and trails for recreation and competition. Those arteries now snake through the city, connecting to hundreds of trails in the surrounding mountains.

“Cycling is clearly a passion of ours and it’s something that we believe in, and I personally believe that cycling can be a solution for complex problems,” Tom Walton said in an interview. He added, “We never had a huge vision like this. We just never stopped.”

There has always been biking in the foothills of the Ozarks in northwest Arkansas; some longtime residents recounted learning to bike on unkempt gravel roads and unsanctioned trails.

But the new infrastructure is among the cultural amenities that the Walton family has championed, in part to attract corporate employees and tourists to a relatively rural, remote region. The Waltons have also poured money into a major art museum, schools and a new health institute, among other things.

“Twenty years ago, we were not a leisure destination — we were a business destination,” said Kalene Griffith, the chief executive of Visit Bentonville and who now owns a mountain bike, a gravel bike and an electric bike. “Cycling and sports is what changed our weekends for us.”

The web of connected trails, the construction of which began in earnest around 2012, means smooth rides close enough to downtown that cyclists seeking a longer journey do not need to drive out to a starting point. A regional greenway connects Bentonville to other towns in the region.

Some veteran bikers eyed the city’s offerings skeptically at first. Manufactured elevation, after all — the jumps, twists and steep curves built into the trail network — may provide less adrenaline than the more dramatic terrain of the Utah desert or the Colorado mountains.

“My heart kind of sunk a little bit, and I looked at my wife — I was like, ‘We might have made a mistake,’” said Doug Roberts, the owner of a cycling apparel company based in Bentonville, describing seeing the city for the first time from the window of a plane. “Where could the trails possibly be, right?”

Now, however, he said, “I’ll get on my bike and I’ll ride 30 miles in my two hours on trail and not hit the same thing twice sometimes.”

Nor does the lack of extreme elevation bother Tom and Steuart Walton, both of whom are dedicated bikers.

“I’m fine that we don’t have large mountains, or a super long history of being an outdoor mountain bike town,” Tom Walton said. “We have a model that is replicable for lots and lots of other towns that look and feel like Bentonville, that are across the middle of our country.”

There is at times an undercurrent of unease about the influence of Walton and Walmart money in Bentonville — and about one billionaire family and one business wielding so much influence there. And descriptions of Bentonville, which has seen an influx of tourist dollars, as a Disneyland or paradise for cyclists can feel dissonant when much of the rest of Arkansas struggles economically.

“You take the bitter with the sweet, for sure, if you’ve been here long enough to see some of the trade-offs,” said Jesse Turner, who builds custom handlebars and is a longtime resident of Northwest Arkansas, pointing to the uptick in congestion, the spread of development and increased costs of living.

Last year, more than a third of Bentonville residents reported riding a bike at least once a month. The biking opportunities also draw thousands of tourists, some of whom had never considered visiting the state before hearing its offerings.

“I could’ve never told you I was going to be in Bentonville, Ark., for four nights,” said Jon Carroll, 48, a visitor from Lexington, Ky., who was standing near the starting line of one of the city’s many cycling races. “It’s very well done.”

Bicycle engineers and manufacturers have flocked to the city, seeking to capitalize on new cyclists and business opportunities. So have serious competitive cyclists: Haley Batten, who had the best performance of any American in mountain biking at the 2024 Summer Olympics, where she won a silver medal, trained in Bentonville with the rest of the U.S. team.

The city also has become a destination for professional cycling events: The Life Time Grand Prix, a series of off-road cycling races that begins this weekend, will conclude in the city later this year.

“Bentonville’s intoxicating,” Alexey Vermeulen, who competes on the off-road bike circuit, said after winning the men’s Big Sugar Gravel race last fall. Stained with gray dust, he recounted curving through the course — at one point looping into Missouri — before cruising to a triumphant finish in the center of the city.

“Every year,” he added, “I start spending more and more time” there.

Bike racks abound along the streets and on the backs of cars. The Ledger, a co-working space in the city, has six stories of public bike ramps winding around its exterior. And there is now a rebate program for city residents who purchase electric bikes.

The fervor has expanded beyond Bentonville: There are plans to build a bike park with a chairlift in Bella Vista, Ark., an enclave outside the city, that would connect to the existing trails.

Cyclists will tell you that the genuine interest of locals in Northwest Arkansas has powered the explosion in biking. Volunteers spend their weekends cleaning up debris along the trails, including after a series of tornadoes swept through the area last year.

For a sport and hobby that has long been expensive and predominately white and male, Bentonville also presents an opportunity to bring more people safely into the cycling fold. There are trails for all levels, including those learning to ride and people who cannot use a traditional two-wheeled bike.

“It was like a dream come true — we only went four miles, but that was good for their first time,” said Bekah Murphy, a teacher, recounting her young children’s first bike ride. “Everyone’s welcome and everyone feels like they can do it.”

Stacey Brickson, a Wisconsin resident who scheduled a recent visit around one of the races, marveled at how she could safely leave her bike unlocked while eating in a restaurant downtown — and at the welcome shown to cyclists of all levels.

“Everybody here just wants you on a bike,” she said.