Rome: The United States and Iran are set to resume high-stakes talks Saturday on Tehran\u2019s nuclear program, a week after an initial round of discussions that both sides described as \u201cconstructive.\u201d
\nIranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Rome, images broadcast early Saturday by Iranian state television showed, where he was set to join Oman-mediated talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
\nThey come one week after the two sides conducted what Iran called indirect talks in Muscat. Those were the first discussions at such a high level between the foes since US President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear accord in 2018.
\nWestern countries including the United States have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons \u2014 an allegation Tehran has consistently denied, insisting that its program is for peaceful civilian purposes.
\nTehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran\u2019s 1979 Islamic revolution.
\nFollowing his return to office in January, Trump revived his \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d campaign of sanctions against Iran.
\nIn March he sent a letter to Iran\u2019s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging renewed nuclear talks while warning of military action if diplomacy failed.
\n\u201cI\u2019m not in a rush\u201d to use the military option, Trump said on Thursday. \u201cI think Iran wants to talk.\u201d
\nOn Friday Araghchi said Iran \u201cobserved a degree of seriousness\u201d on the US side during the first round but questioned their intentions.
\n\u201cAlthough we have serious doubts about the intentions and motivations of the American side, in any case we will participate in tomorrow\u2019s (Saturday\u2019s) negotiations,\u201d he said at a press conference in Moscow.
\nIn a social media post early on Saturday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Tehran was \u201caware that it is not a smooth path but we take every step with open eyes, relying also on the past experiences.\u201d
\n\u2019Crucial stage\u2019
\nIn an interview published on Wednesday by French newspaper Le Monde, the United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Iran was \u201cnot far\u201d from possessing a nuclear bomb.
\nDuring Trump\u2019s first term, Washington withdrew from the 2015 accord between Tehran and world powers which offered Iran relief from international sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
\nTehran complied with the agreement for a year after Trump\u2019s withdrawal before scaling back its compliance.
\nAraghchi was a negotiator of the 2015 deal. His counterpart in Rome, Witkoff, is a real estate magnate Trump has also tasked with talks on Ukraine.
\nIran currently enriches uranium up to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 limit in the deal but still below the 90 percent threshold required for weapons-grade material.
\nOn Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged European countries to decide on whether to trigger the \u201csnapback\u201d mechanism under the 2015 agreement, which would automatically reinstate UN sanctions on Iran over its non-compliance.
\nThe option to trigger the mechanism expires in October this year.
\nIran has previously warned it could withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the mechanism were triggered.
\nGrossi, who held talks with Iranian officials during a visit to Tehran this week, said the US and Iran were \u201cat a very crucial stage\u201d in the talks and \u201cdon\u2019t have much time\u201d to secure a deal.
\n\u2019Non-negotiable\u2019
\nIranian officials have insisted that the talks only focus on its nuclear program and lifting of sanctions.
\nAraghchi said a deal with the US was \u201clikely\u201d if Washington refrained from \u201cmaking unreasonable and unrealistic demands,\u201d without elaborating.
\nAnalysts had said the United States would push to include discussions over Iran\u2019s ballistic missile program as well as Tehran\u2019s support for militants in the Middle East.
\nAraghchi said Iran\u2019s right to enrich uranium was \u201cnon-negotiable,\u201d after Witkoff called for its complete halt. Witkoff had previously demanded only that Iran return to the ceiling set by the 2015 deal.
\nOn Tuesday, Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the country\u2019s military capabilities were off limits in the discussions.
\nIran\u2019s regional influence and its missile capabilities were among its \u201cred lines\u201d in the talks, the official IRNA news agency reported.
\nOn Friday US ally Israel affirmed its unwavering commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, saying it had a \u201cclear course of action\u201d to prevent this.
\nKhamenei on Tuesday said Iranians should not pin hopes on progress in the negotiations which \u201cmay or may not yield results.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rome: The United States and Iran are set to resume high-stakes talks Saturday on Tehran\u2019s nuclear program, a week after an initial round of discussions that both sides described as \u201cconstructive.\u201d Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Rome, images broadcast early Saturday by Iranian state television showed, where he was set to join Oman-mediated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-473434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n