Rome – A second cycle of negotiations between Iran and the United States on Tehran’s rapid nuclear program ended on Saturday after several hours of talks, Iranian and American officials said.
There was no immediate American reading on how talks took place at the Omani Embassy in the Rome district of Rome. A convoy carrying the American envoy Steve Witkoff left while Iranian state television announced the conclusion of talks, the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi leaving a few minutes later.
“Today, in Rome for more than four hours during our second cycle of talks, we have made very good progress in our direct and indirect discussions,” a official of the Trump administration at the Times d’Imes d’Imes later.
“We have agreed to see each other again next week and we are grateful to our Omenian partners to have made these Italian talks and partners have facilitated us today,” added the official.
Araghchi said Iranian state television earlier than talks “went before” after a positive meeting.
“It was a good meeting, and I can say that the negotiations are progressing. This time, we have managed to better understand a series of principles and objectives,” he said.
He said the next series of talks would be held next weekend in Oman.
“It has been agreed that the negotiations will continue and go to the next phase, in which expert level meetings will start on Wednesday in Oman. Experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement,” said Araghchi.
Oman’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed to come to Oman’s capital, Muscat, affirming in a press release that they “aim to conclude a fair, sustainable and binding agreement which will guarantee Iran completely free from weapons and nuclear sanctions, and to maintain its ability to develop peaceful nuclear energy.”
The Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arabhchi speaks with the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov
According to Araghchi, only the nuclear problem was raised by the American team during discussions in Rome, despite analysts’ expectations, the United States is trying to tackle other subjects.
“The Americans have not raised any problem unrelated to the nuclear subject,” Araghchi told the Tasnim news agency.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Saturday negotiations that Iran “will continue to be seriously” to see paralyzing economic sanctions on his country.
“Iran will continue with regard to the talks in a constructive and determined manner,” he added in state television remarks.
Iranian officials described talks as indirect, like those of last weekend in Muscat, the Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi who was born in different rooms.
“These discussions are growing and now even the improbable is possible,” said al-Busaidi on X.
An American official also confirmed that the talks ended, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations behind closed doors.
The American special envoy Steve Witkoff, listening to the French president Emmanuel Macron before a meeting at the Palace Elysee in Paris, Thursday April 17, 2025. (Ludovic Marin, photo of swimming pool via AP)
That discussions occur even represent a historic moment, given the decades of enmity between the two countries since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the hostage crisis of the United States Embassy. President Donald Trump, during his first mandate, unilaterally withdrew from the Iranian nuclear agreement with the world powers in 2018, triggering years of attacks and negotiations which have not succeeded in restoring the agreement which considerably limited the enrichment by Tehran of Uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
The talks come as tensions increase in the Middle East
At risk is a possible American or Israeli military strike on Iranian nuclear sites, or the Iranians who followed their threats to pursue an atomic weapon. Meanwhile, tensions in the Middle East increased on the War of Israel-Hamas in the Gaza Strip and after the American air strikes, targeting the Houthi rebels supported by Yemen, killed more than 70 people and injured tens more.
“I am to prevent Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon,” Trump said on Friday. “I want Iran to be tall and prosperous and formidable.”
Araghchi met on Saturday morning with the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani before the talks with Witkoff.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear guard dog, also met Tajani on Saturday. The gross agency would probably be essential in the verification of compliance by Iran if an agreement is concluded, as did with the 2015 agreement, Iran concluded with the global powers, including the United States.
Tajani said Italy was ready to “facilitate the continuation of talks even for the technical sessions”.
An agreement of diplomat “is patiently built, day after day, with a dialogue and mutual respect,” he said in a statement.
The Minister of Strategic Affairs of Israel, Ron Dermer, was also in Rome on Saturday and was spotted in the same hotel where Witkoff is staying. It was not clear if it was a coincidence, and there was no indication that dermer was one of the talks in Iran.
Dermer, one of Prime Minister Benjamin’s main advisers, and Mossad chief David Barnea had discussions on Friday with Witkoff in Paris.
Police patrol outside the Omani Embassy in Rome during a closed -door meeting between us and the Iranian delegations to discuss the nuclear program in advance of Tehran, Saturday April 19, 2025. (AP photo / Andrew Medichini)
Araghchi, Witkoff has both traveled before the talks
The two men have traveled in recent days. Witkoff had been in Paris to talk about Ukraine while Russia’s large -scale war clung to it. Araghchi will come from Tehran, Iran, after a visit to Moscow, where he met officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia, one of the global powers involved in the Tehran nuclear agreement in 2015, could be a key participant in any future agreement concluded between Tehran and Washington. Analysts suggest that Moscow could potentially take custody of Iranian uranium enriched at 60% purity – at a short technical step in the quality of weapons of 90%.
The capital of Oman hosted the first series of negotiations between Araghchi and Witkoff last weekend, which saw the two men meet face to face after indirect talks. Oman, a sultanate at the eastern border of the Arabian peninsula, has long served as an interlocutor between Iran and the West.
Before the talks, however, Iran seized Witkoff’s comments suggesting first that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later say that all enrichment must stop. Ali Shamkhani, an advisor to the supreme Iranian chief of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote on X before the talks that Iran would not accept to abandon his enrichment program like Libya, or to accept to use uranium enriched abroad for his nuclear program.
“Iran came for a balanced agreement, not a surrender,” he wrote.
The Iran team in #Rome With a full authority for an agreement based on 9 principles: severity, guarantees, balance, no threats, speed, withdrawal of sanctions, rejection of the Libya / Water model, containing troublemakers (like Israel) and investment facilitation. Do not give in.
– علی شمخانی (@alishamkhani_ir) April 19, 2025
Iran is looking for an agreement to stabilize an economy in difficulty
Iran’s internal policy is always ignited on the compulsory hijab, or scarf, women always ignoring the law in the streets of Tehran. Rumors also persist that the government potentially increases the cost of subsidized essence in the country, which has triggered manifestations on a national level in the past.
Iran’s Rial currency plunged more than a million to an American dollar this month. The currency improved with talks, however, which Tehran hopes to continue.
Meanwhile, two used Airbus A330-200 long sought after by the Iranian flag carrier, Iran Air, arrived at Tehran Mehrabad International Airport on Thursday, according to flight monitoring data analyzed by the Associated Press. The planes, formerly of China Hainan Airlines, were in Muscat and re -recorded in Iran.
The plane has Rolls-Royce engines, which include significant American parts and maintenance. Such a transaction would need the approval of the US Treasury to sanctions against Iran. The State Department and the Treasury did not respond to requests for comments.
Under the 2015 agreement, Iran could buy new aircraft and have aligned tens of billions of dollars in agreement with Airbus and Boeing Co. However, manufacturers have moved away from Trump’s threats against nuclear agreement.
Iran says that its nuclear program is not used for military purposes, but it has enriched uranium at levels that are only necessary to assemble an atomic bomb. For decades, the Islamic Republic has promised to destroy the state of Israel.
