Iranian FM says third round of Iran-U.S. nuclear talks to take place on Saturday in Oman

Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to hold another round of talks next week over Tehran’s nuclear programme, Iranian state TV reported, as they ended their second round of negotiations in Rome over their decades-long standoff.

Iranian state TV said the talks’ atmosphere was ‘constructive’, reporting that the third round will take place on Saturday in Oman.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Iranian state TV immediately after the negotiations that Iran “will continue the path of the talks with seriousness” to see crippling economic sanctions on his country lifted.

“Iran will continue as far as talks go on in a constructive and purposeful way,” he added.

A U.S. official also confirmed the talks ended, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff negotiated indirectly through an Omani official, a week after a first round of indirect talks in Muscat that both sides described as constructive.

Araqchi, in a meeting with his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani ahead of the talks, said Iran had always been committed to diplomacy and called on “all parties involved in the talks to seize the opportunity to reach a reasonable and logical nuclear deal”.

“Such an agreement should respect Iran’s legitimate rights and lead to the lifting of unjust sanctions on the country while addressing any doubts about its nuclear work,” Araqchi was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.

He said in Moscow on Friday that Iran believes reaching an agreement on its nuclear programme with the U.S. is possible as long as Washington is realistic.

A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal, according to Reuters.

Iran also rejects negotiating about defence capabilities such as its ballistic missile program and the range of Tehran’s domestically-produced missiles.

For his part, Trump told reporters on Friday, “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”

Separately, Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, amid Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran. Meanwhile, Russia has expressed its readiness to “assist, mediate, and play any role” that could benefit both parties.