Iran and the United States will hold a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long stand-off 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 Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will negotiate indirectly through an Omani official who will shuttle messages between the two sides, Iranian officials said, a week after a first round of indirect talks in Muscat that both sides described as constructive.
Araqchi and Witkoff interacted briefly at the end of the first round, but officials from the two countries have not held direct negotiations since 2015 under former US President Barack Obama.
Araqchi has arrived in Rome, according to a post on his Telegram account. He said in Moscow on Friday that Iran believes reaching an agreement on its nuclear programme with the US is possible as long as Washington is realistic.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson in a post on X said Tehran had “always demonstrated, with good faith and a sense of responsibility, its commitment to diplomacy as a civilised way to resolve issues”.
“We are aware that it is not a smooth path but we take every step with open eyes, relying also on past experiences,” Esmaeil Baghaei said in the post.
