US, Iran report progress in nuclear talks, will meet again
- 4 hours ago
The United States and Iran made progress in a second round of high-stakes talks on Tehran's nuclear programme on Saturday and agreed to meet again next week, both sides said.
The Oman-mediated talks in Rome lasted about four hours, Iranian state television and a senior US official said. Tehran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi declared it a "good meeting" that yielded progress.
"This time we managed to reach a better understanding on a series of principles and goals," he told Iranian state TV.
The senior US official said in a statement, "Today, in Rome over four hours in our second round of talks, we made very good progress in our direct and indirect discussions."
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the parties "agreed to resume indirect talks at a technical level over the next few days and subsequently continue at the level of two senior negotiators next Saturday", April 26.
The US official confirmed another meeting next week but did not specify which day or where.
Oman said the third round would be in Muscat, returning to the site of the first talks a week ago.
Those were the first discussions at such a high level between the foes since US President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear accord in 2018.
Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons -- an allegation Tehran has consistently denied, insisting that its programme is for peaceful civilian purposes.
After Saturday's talks, Oman's foreign ministry said Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had agreed to keep negotiating.
The talks, it said, "aim to seal a fair, enduring and binding deal which will ensure Iran (is) completely free of nuclear weapons and sanctions, and maintaining its ability to develop peaceful nuclear energy".
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said the talks were "gaining momentum and now even the unlikely is possible".
Baqaei said the delegations had been "in two different rooms" at the Omani ambassador's residence, with Albusaidi passing messages between them.
Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.
After returning to office in January, Trump revived his "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions against Iran.
In March he wrote to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging renewed nuclear talks while also warning of military action if diplomacy failed.
"I'm not in a rush" to use the military option, Trump said Thursday. "I think Iran wants to talk."
On Friday, Araghchi said Iran "observed a degree of seriousness" on the US side during the first round but questioned their "intentions and motivations".
Agence France-Presse