Iran and the United States concluded their second round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday, with the third round of talks to take place in a few days, according to Iranian state TV, stating that the atmosphere of the talks was “constructive.”
Iran and the United States are in the midst of these talks to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will negotiate indirectly through mediators from Oman, a week after a first round in Muscat that both sides described as constructive.
Reuters reported that Araghchi arrived in Rome on Saturday morning to begin the nuclear talks.
According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, the talks are currently taking place in two separate rooms. The Omani foreign minister is relaying messages between the two countries.
Tehran has sought to tamp down expectations of a quick deal, after some Iranian officials speculated that sanctions could be lifted soon. Iran’s utmost authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said this week he was “neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic.”
Stopping Iran nuclear program
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.”
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 Iran 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.
“Rome becomes the capital of peace and dialog,” 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.”
Some experts believe that securing a deal without having a clear idea of Iran’s nuclear inventory would mean that US officials would have next to no idea if the Islamic Republic would be complying with baselines outlined in the agreement.
“Trump’s given a two-month deadline to get a deal done,” David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security think tank, told the Wall Street Journal. “Iran needs to start cooperating more fully with the IAEA in order to develop confidence that any deal is water-tight.”
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran. The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail. The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
Negotiating some curbs
Ali Shamkhani, a member of the Islamic Republic’s Expediency Discernment Council and advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, wrote in a post to X/Twitter on Saturday that the Iranian team in Rome has “full authority” for a deal.
“Iran’s team in Rome with full authority for a deal based on 9 principles: seriousness, guarantees, balance, no threats, speed, removal of sanctions, rejection of the Libya/UAE model, containing troublemakers (like Israel), and investment facilitation. Not to yield.”
Iran’s team in #Rome with full authority for a deal based on 9 principles: seriousness, guarantees, balance, no threats, speed, removal of sanctions, rejection of the Libya/UAE model, containing troublemakers (like Israel), and investment facilitation. Not to yield.
— علی شمخانی (@alishamkhani_ir) April 19, 2025
Shamkhani shared the same post in Hebrew.
Tehran, which has always said its nuclear program 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 as Trump did in 2018.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity, listed Iran’s 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 defense capabilities such as missiles.
While both Tehran and Washington have said they are set on pursuing diplomacy, there is still a wide gap between them on the dispute that has rumbled on for more than two decades.
Witkoff and Araghchi interacted briefly at the end of the first round last week, but officials from the two countries have not held direct negotiations since 2015, and Iran said the Rome talks would also be held indirectly through the Omani mediators.
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 United States.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
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