The United States and Iran concluded a second round of high-stakes talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme yesterday, agreeing to meet again in a week for further discussions.The Oman-mediated talks in Rome lasted about four hours, Iranian state television reported, describing the atmosphere as “constructive”.“The two sides agreed to resume indirect talks at a technical level over the next few days and subsequently continue at the level of two senior negotiators next Saturday, April 26,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on X.Oman said the third round would be in Muscat, returning to the site of the first talks a week ago.Those were the first discussions at such a high level between the nations 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.After yesterday’s talks, Oman’s foreign ministry said Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had agreed to keep negotiating.The talks, it said, “aim to seal a fair, enduring and binding deal which will ensure Iran (is) completely free of nuclear weapons and sanctions, and maintaining its ability to develop peaceful nuclear energy”. It said the talks are “gaining momentum and now even the unlikely is possible”.Araghchi called the discussions a “good meeting” that yielded progress.“This time we managed to reach a better understanding on a series of principles and goals,” he told Iran’s state TV.Baqaei said the delegations had been “in two different rooms” at the Omani ambassador’s residence, with Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi passing messages between them.Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran’s 1979 revolution. After returning to office in January, Trump revived his “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions against Iran.In March he wrote 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 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 that 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, Witkoff, is a real estate magnate Trump has also tasked with talks on Ukraine.Iran currently enriches uranium up to 60%, far above the 3.67 percent limit in the deal but still below the 90% threshold required for weapons-grade material.On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged European countries to decide whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 agreement, which would automatically reinstate UN sanctions on Iran over its non-compliance.The option to trigger the mechanism expires in October.Iran has previously warned it could withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the mechanism were triggered.
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