Cnn
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A second cycle of high -level talks between us and the Iranian delegations on the Tehran nuclear program ended in Rome on Saturday, in the middle of optimism soaked on a diplomatic path to follow.
The negotiations on Saturday took place a week after a first round in the Omanaise Muscat capital. Although the talks were in Italy, Oman acted again as a mediator between the American team, led by the special envoy Steve Witkoff, and the Iranian, led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi.
The Trump administration expressed its optimism after the talks, stressing “very good progress” and that they “agreed to meet” next week. “Today, in Rome, more than four hours during our second cycle of talks, we have made very good progress in our direct and indirect discussions,” said a senior administration official in CNN.
Araghchi also pointed out that talks had been positive, telling journalists that they had lasted about four hours. “I can say that there are movements in advance. We have reached a better understanding and agreement on certain principles and objectives in these negotiations in Rome,” he said.
However, Araghchi said that the nuclear agreement that was reached in 2015, known as JCPOA, between Iran and the world powers, including the United States, “is no longer good for us”, in an article on X on Saturday. “For them, what remains of this agreement is” the lessons learned, “said Araghchi, adding that” for the moment, optimism can be justified but only with a lot of caution “.
Iranian officials say that talks between technical experts would start Oman on Wednesday before a third tour of high -level talks on Saturday. “The two parties agreed to continue the indirect talks in (a) a few days at the level (a) of the technical level to be followed by another round at their own level on Saturday to come,” said the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baqaei, in a position on X.
The third round of high-level talks will take place next Saturday, according to the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Oman Foreign Ministry confirmed that the meeting would take place in Muscat.
The two countries have had decades of animosity and have long challenged the nuclear capacities of Iran.
Washington wants Iran to prevent the production of highly enriched uranium, which, according to her, aims to build an atomic bomb. Iran has doubled this week on its right to enrich uranium, but suggested that it was willing to negotiate certain compromises in exchange for the relief of sanctions to relieve the pressure on its hardened economy.
The second cycle of talks was put in place in the same way as the first, according to the Iranian spokesperson, the two parties not communicating directly between them.
Instead, the delegates sat in separate parts, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Oman, Badr Bin Hamad Al Busaidi, mediating between the two.
Witkoff and Araghchi only met briefly in the first round – not since the presidency of Obama that the United States and Iran have had complete direct talks.
The last round was again a commitment to high issues, and the one preceded by a wave of diplomatic activities as ally and adversaries seek to potentially understand and influence the objectives of talks.
They come in a context of increased tensions in the Middle East. The Iranian network of agents in the region was weakened by Israeli attacks and US President Donald Trump resumed the “maximum pressure” campaign of his first mandate against Iran.
Trump suggested that he was not looking at the imminent military strikes against Iran’s nuclear installations, but the threat is still looming.
“I am not in a hurry to do it because I think Iran has a chance to have a big country and to live happily without death,” he said when he questioned a report from the New York Times that he had gave Israel to this military action.
“I would like to see this, this is my first option. If there is a second option, I think it would be very bad for Iran,” added the American president.
Before the talks in Rome, Witkoff quietly met Friday in Paris with the Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs and the closest confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ron Dermer, and the director of Mossad, David Barnea.
The Israeli government promotes aggressive action against, not diplomacy with Iran. Netanyahu’s office said on Thursday that Israeli “manifest and secret operations” were the reason why “Iran does not currently have a nuclear arsenal”.
American intelligence agencies have warned that Israel would probably try to attack Iranian nuclear installations, CNN reported in February.
Witkoff was in the French capital with Secretary of State Marco Rubio for discussions on Ukraine, and the two discussed the next Iran meeting with the so-called “E3” allies-France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
“For Europeans, they have an important decision to take very soon on Snapback – on the Snapback of sanctions – because Iran is clearly without compliance with the current agreement,” Rubio said on Friday. “It will be a factor in all of this and that is why it was important that we were talking to them before our talks on Saturday.”
Araghchi went to Moscow before going to Rome, meeting both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, saying that he expected Russia to continue his “favorable” role in any new agreement.
The leader of the UN nuclear guard dog, Rafael Grossi, said during a visit to Iran that the talks were “at a very crucial stage”, adding: “We know that we do not have much time.”
Since the removal of the United States of the Iranian nuclear agreement during the first term of Trump, Tehran has largely exceeded the limits it has set on the enrichment of uranium, but has maintained that it does not seek a nuclear weapon.
The Saudi Defense Minister, Prince Khalid Bin Salman Al Saud, also went to Tehran this week during one of the highest trips by a Saudi official for decades.
It was a visit to improve diplomatic ties between regional enemies in Saudi Arabia and Iran and supposed to point out that the kingdom can play a role in de -escalation and brokerage of peace efforts, a source told CNN.
This source noted that the Saudis do not know what Trump provides in talks with Iran and that the assessment in Saudi Arabia is that they can be unpredictable and could be short -lived.
Nic Robertson de CNN, Kareem el Damanhoury, Betsy Klein and Leila Gharagozlou contributed to this report.
