The United States and Iran on Saturday resumed high-stakes talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, a week after an initial round of discussions that both sides described as ‘constructive’.
The Oman-mediated talks in Rome began at about 09:30 GMT, according to a US official and Iranian state television.
Images broadcast by Iranian state television showed foreign minister Abbas Araghchi arriving in the Italian capital, with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff also set to participate in the talks.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said the ‘two delegations are in two different rooms’ at the Omani ambassador’s residence, with Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi passing messages between them.
The meeting comes a week after the two sides had what Iran called indirect talks in Muscat. 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.
Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.
Following his return to office in January, Trump revived his ‘maximum pressure’ campaign of sanctions against Iran.
In March he sent a letter 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’.
In a social media post early Saturday, Baqaei said Tehran was ‘aware that it is not a smooth path but we take every step with open eyes, relying also on the past experiences’.
The leader of mediator Oman, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, is due in Moscow in the coming days, according to his office and the Kremlin, which said he would discuss with President Vladimir Putin ‘current questions on the international and regional agenda’ and other issues.
In an interview published on Wednesday by French newspaper Le Monde, the United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Iran was ‘not far’ from possessing a nuclear bomb.
During Trump’s first term, Washington withdrew from the 2015 accord between Tehran and world powers which offered Iran relief from international sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.
Tehran complied with the agreement for a year after Trump’s withdrawal before scaling back its compliance.
Araghchi was a negotiator of the 2015 deal. His US counterpart in Rome, Witkoff, is a real estate magnate Trump has also tasked with talks on Ukraine.
Iran currently enriches uranium up to 60 per cent, far above the 3.67 limit in the deal but still below the 90 per cent threshold required for weapons-grade material.
Iranian officials have insisted that the talks focus only on its nuclear programme and lifting of sanctions.
Araghchi said a deal with the US was ‘likely’ if Washington refrained from ‘making unreasonable and unrealistic demands’, without elaborating.
