US, Iran Head Toward 2nd Round of Indirect Nuclear Talks

There are clear disagreements ahead of the negotiations this weekend.

(Left) U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff after a meeting with Russian officials at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 18, 2025. (Right) Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks at the Iranian consulate in Jeddah on March 7, 2025. Evelyn Hockstein and Amer Hilabi/AFP via Getty Images

The next round of negotiations between the United States and Iran aimed at resolving a decade-long nuclear standoff is set to take place Saturday in Rome, following earlier confusion over the venue.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed the location Wednesday in an interview with state-run Press TV, adding that Oman will continue to mediate the discussions. Araghchi and U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, held the first round of indirect talks in Muscat last weekend, where Omani diplomat Badr al-Busaidi shuttled messages between the delegations.

A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry had earlier told state news agency IRNA that the talks would resume in Muscat, but Press TV later reported the venue had been changed to the Italian capital.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the U.S. State Department for more information.

While both sides described the initial talks as “constructive,” tensions quickly resurfaced over whether Iran should be allowed to continue enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels.

The disagreement follows a series of statements from Witkoff, who made clear that the president expects Iran, a leading state sponsor of terrorism, to fully abandon enrichment as a condition for any agreement.

“A deal with Iran will only be completed if it is a Trump deal,” he wrote on Tuesday on X. “Any final arrangement must set a framework for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Middle East—meaning that Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program. It is imperative for the world that we create a tough, fair deal that will endure, and that is what President Trump has asked me to do.”

His post marked a shift from his comments the day prior in a Fox News interview, where he suggested that he would focus on capping Iran’s uranium refinement levels at 3.67 percent—the level suitable for civilian nuclear reactors. That limit was a key component of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which the Trump administration abandoned, saying it was unenforceable and ineffective in curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Araghchi responded Wednesday by rejecting any compromise on the enrichment issue.

“Iran’s enrichment [program] is a real and genuine matter, and we are ready to build trust regarding potential concerns, but the issue of enrichment is non-negotiable,” Araghchi told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

Araghchi added that he expects Witkoff to clarify his “real positions at the negotiation table.”

Ahead of the Rome talks, Araghchi traveled to Moscow to deliver a written message from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia, which possesses the world’s largest confirmed nuclear arsenal, has deepened military and economic ties with Iran since its conflict with Ukraine escalated into a full-blown war in February 2022.

The Kremlin—described by Tehran as its “strategic partner”—has urged restraint last month after Trump warned of potential military retaliation if Iran fails on the diplomatic front.

“If [the Iranians] don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” Trump told NBC News in a March 30 telephone interview. “It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before. There’s a chance that if they don’t make a deal, that I will do secondary tariffs on them like I did four years ago.”

In 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 deal that had imposed limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. The withdrawal was part of Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign aimed at blocking Iran’s access to nuclear weapons and curtailing its ability to fund terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, the Taliban, and al-Qaeda.

In February, Trump signed a memorandum officially reinstating the “maximum pressure” strategy. The presidential memo, among other things, instructs the Treasury and State Departments to “drive Iran’s export of oil to zero,” including shipments to China. It also directs the Treasury to block Iran from using Iraq’s financial system to evade sanctions and to ensure Gulf states do not become transshipment hubs for Iranian oil.