Iran, US hold fifth round of nuclear negotiations

Rome: Iran and the United States began a fifth round of negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme Friday in Rome, with enrichment emerging as the key issue.

US officials up to President Donald Trump insist Iran cannot continue to

enrich uranium at all in any deal that could see sanctions lifted on Tehran’s struggling economy. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi early Friday insisted online that no enrichment would mean “we do NOT have a deal.”

“Figuring out the path to a deal is not rocket science,” Araghchi wrote on the social platform X. “Time to decide.”

The US is again represented in the talks by Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Michael Anton, the State Department’s policy planning director.

Oman’s

Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi is mediating the negotiations as the sultanate on the Arabian Peninsula has been a trusted interlocutor by both Tehran and Washington in the talks.

Multiple convoys arrived at the Omani Embassy in Rome’s Camilluccia neighborhood just after 1 pm.

The embassy previously served as the site of another round of talks. Iranian media just before 2 pm announced the talks had begun, without elaborating.