KEY POINTS
- Iran, US agree to resume nuclear talks next week
- The talks were indirect, with Omani officials shuttling messages between the two sides
- Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it would pursue the negotiations seriously to lift economic sanctions
- Iranian FM called for a “reasonable and logical” deal respecting Iran’s rights
- Trump reiterated Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon
- Israel has not ruled out a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities
- Russia offered to support and facilitate continued negotiations
ROME, Italy: Iran and the United States on Saturday agreed to hold another round of talks next week over Tehran’s nuclear programme, Iranian state TV reported, as they ended their second round of negotiations in Rome to resolve their decades-long dispute.
There was no immediate readout on how the talks went at the Omani Embassy in Rome’s Camilluccia neighbourhood. Iranian state television reported that the talks concluded.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Iranian state TV immediately after the negotiations that Iran “will continue the path of the talks with seriousness” to see crippling economic sanctions on his country lifted.
“Iran will continue as far as talks go on in a constructive and purposeful way,” he added.
A US official also confirmed the talks ended, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.
Iranian officials described the talks as indirect, like those last weekend in Muscat, Oman, with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi shuttling between them in different rooms.
The second round of the talks were held after a week of the first round of indirect talks in Muscat that both sides described as constructive.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff interacted briefly at the end of the first round, but officials from the two countries have not held direct negotiations since 2015 under former US President Barack Obama.
Reasonable, logical nuclear deal
Araqchi, in a meeting with his Italian counterpart ahead of the talks, said Iran had always been committed to diplomacy and called on “all parties involved in the talks to seize the opportunity to reach a reasonable and logical nuclear deal”.
“Such an agreement should respect Iran’s legitimate rights and lead to the lifting of unjust sanctions on the country while addressing any doubts about its nuclear work,” Araqchi was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
He said in Moscow on Friday that Iran believes reaching an agreement on its nuclear programme with the US is possible as long as Washington is realistic.
“Rome becomes the capital of peace and dialogue,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on X.
“I encouraged (Araqchi) to follow the path of negotiation against nuclear arms. The hope of the Italian government is that all together may find a positive solution for the Middle East.”
#Roma diventa Capitale di pace e dialogo. Ho ricevuto il Ministro degli Esteri iraniano @araghchi e l’ho incoraggiato a proseguire nel cammino del negoziato contro l’arma nucleare. L’auspicio del Governo italiano è che tutti insieme si possa arrivare ad una soluzione positiva per… pic.twitter.com/LfsHowhGC9
— Antonio Tajani (@Antonio_Tajani) April 19, 2025
Tehran has, however, sought to tamp down expectations of a quick deal, after some Iranian officials speculated that sanctions could be lifted soon.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said this week he was “neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic”.
Israel considering attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities
For his part, Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Meanwhile, Israel has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, Reuters reported citing an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Trump, who ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six powers during his first term in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on Tehran, has revived his “maximum pressure” campaign on the country since returning to the White House in January.
Washington wants Iran to halt production of highly enriched uranium, which it believes is aimed at building an atomic bomb.
Tehran, which has always maintained its nuclear programme is peaceful, says it is willing to negotiate some curbs in return for the lifting of sanctions, but wants watertight guarantees that Washington will not renege again.
President Donald Trump, in his first term, unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.
Since 2019, Iran has surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy programme.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium-enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
Iran also rejects negotiating about defence capabilities such as its ballistic missile programme and the range of Tehran’s domestically-produced missiles.
Russia, a party to Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement, has offered “to assist, mediate, and play any role” that will be beneficial to Iran and the US.
Trump’s warning to Iran
Meanwhile, tensions in the Middle East have spiked over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and after US airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthis killed more than 70 people and wounded dozens more.
“I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon,” Trump said Friday. “I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Araghchi met Saturday morning with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani ahead of the talks with Witkoff.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, also met Tajani on Saturday.
Grossi’s agency would likely be key in verifying compliance by Iran should a deal be reached, as it did with the 2015 accord Iran reached with world powers.
Tajani said Italy was ready “to facilitate the continuation of the talks even for sessions at the technical level.”
A diplomat deal “is built patiently, day after day, with dialogue and mutual respect,” he said in a statement.
