Police members direct diplomatic vehicles arriving at the Omani embassy in Rome, where the second round of U.S.-Iran talks is taking place, on April 19, 2025 (Credit: Andreas Solaro/AFP)
The second round of nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran, mediated by Oman, on Saturday made significant progress, officials from both countries have said, and a third meeting is scheduled for next week.
"We have made a lot of progress in our direct and indirect talks," said an unidentified senior American official in a written statement that included confirmation of plans for a third meeting. While the U.S. had hoped the second meeting would shift from an indirect to a direct format, it appears the delegations, led by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, still did not meet, speaking only through intermediaries.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghai said the two delegations were in "two different rooms" of the Omani ambassador's residence in Rome, and that Oman's foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, mediated the talks.
"Negotiations are progressing," Araghchi said after the second round of talks, which lasted four hours. "It was a good meeting," he added. The Rome meeting took place a week after the first round of discussions in Oman, the highest-level meeting between the two countries — adversaries since the 1979 revolution — since 2018, when Trump broke from the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, calling it "one-sided."
"We will meet next Saturday in Oman," Araghchi announced on Iranian state television, indicating that "technical discussions at the expert level will begin on Wednesday."
The mediator, Albusaidi, said that Tehran and Washington are seeking a "fair, sustainable and binding" agreement that will ensure "an Iran without nuclear weapons and without sanctions."
"The discussions are gaining momentum, and even the improbable is now becoming possible,' Albusaidi wrote on X. Iranian media and the Tasnim news agency reported a "constructive atmosphere" at the Rome talks, which in Iran, have raised hopes that heavy sanctions from the West could be lifted, reducing some of the economic strain felt by the country's population.
The stock market in Iran experienced a "historic" capitalization on Saturday, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. The national currency also strengthened, with a dollar trading on Sunday for about 830,000 rials, compared to over a million in early April, according to several Iranian sites tracking the informal exchange rate.
Tel Aviv accused of trying to 'undermine' negotiations
Before Saturday's talks, Araghchi had, however, expressed "serious doubts" about the United States' intentions. "We are aware that the path [to an agreement] is not without obstacles," Baghai wrote on X on Saturday.
On Monday, Iran accused Israel, its number one rival, of trying to "undermine" the talks.
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Mossad director David Barnea had slipped into Paris for the low-profile meeting with Witkoff on Friday to try to influence the U.S. position ahead the next day's meeting with Iran, according to an Axios report that cites three Israeli sources.
"A kind of coalition is forming ... to undermine and disrupt the diplomatic process," Baghai said during a press briefing. "The Zionist regime is at the center of this movement. Alongside it are a series of warmongering currents in the United States and figures from different factions."
A debate continues to rage within Trump's administration as to whether a diplomatic or military approach would be more effective in preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb. Trump has so far managed to hold back those gunning for strikes against Iran, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and is focusing on getting a deal.
Independent news outlet Drop Site News revealed on Monday that the American official overseeing White House policy toward both Israel and Iran inside the National Security Council formerly worked for the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
Netanyahu reiterated on Saturday that he was "determined to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. I will not give up on this goal, I will not let it go, and I will not retreat, even by a millimeter," he declared.
After revelations from the New York Times about Trump blocking Israeli plans to strike Iranian nuclear infrastructure with Washington's help, Trump said Thursday that he was "in no hurry" to use the military option, without closing the door on an operation should negotiations fail. "I think Iran wants to talk," he said.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has resumed his so-called "maximum pressure" policy on Iran. In March, he called on Tehran to negotiate a new agreement. The 2015 international agreement, from which Trump withdrew during his first term, provided a framework of supervision of Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for lifting international sanctions.
After the U.S. withdrew and reapplied sanctions, Iran gradually distanced itself from the text. The country now enriches uranium up to 60 pecent, well above the 3.67 percent ceiling set by the agreement, although it remains below the 90 percent threshold necessary for making a nuclear bomb, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Iran has maintained the uranium is for civilian use only. IAEA director Rafael Grossi stated on Wednesday that Iran was "not far" from possessing the atomic bomb.
'Red lines'
Iran insists that the talks focus solely on the nuclear issue and lifting sanctions, and considers any discussion of a total dismantling of its nuclear program as a "red line."
Some media speculated that Iran's ballistic program or its support for armed groups hostile to Israel, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, would be on the negotiation agenda. But Araghchi confirmed that nuclear was the only topic discussed on Saturday.
Araghchi had warned the U.S. against "unreasonable demands" after Witkoff made a 180 on his initial stance of negotiating for a cap on uranium enriching and called instead for a total dismantling of Iran's nuclear program. The Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, have excluded any discussion on military and defense capabilities, including the ballistic program, which is a concern internationally.
Seeking significant support, the Iranian Foreign Minister is set to visit China, Iran's largest trading partner, a signatory of the Vienna agreement, and recipient of nearly 90 percent of Iranian oil, often at substantial discounts, on Tuesday. On Monday, President Vladimir Putin ratified the 20-year global strategic partnership treaty signed with his Iranian counterpart Massoud Pezeshkian last January, after the Iranian foreign minister went to Russia, also a party to the 2015 nuclear deal, just before the second round of negotiations in Rome.
