Iran and the US hold a second round of negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program in Rome

ROME — Iran and the United States held a second round of negotiations Saturday over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program in Rome, U.S. and Iranian officials said.

The U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations at the Omani Embassy in Rome’s Camilluccia neighborhood. Iranian state media also reported the talks starting just before noon Saturday as journalists watched outside.

The talks in Italy over Easter weekend again will hinge on U.S. billionaire Steve Witkoff, the U.S. Mideast envoy of President Donald Trump, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Whether the two men find common ground in the high-stakes negotiations could mean success or failure in the talks.

The negotiations will again be mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi.

That talks are even happening represents a historic moment, given the decades of enmity between the two countries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis. Trump, in his first term, unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018, setting off years of attacks and negotiations that failed to restore the accord that drastically limited Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

At risk is a possible American or Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, or the Iranians following through on their threats to pursue an atomic weapon. Meanwhile, tensions in the Middle East have spiked over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and after U.S. airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels killed more than 70 people and wounded dozens more.

“I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon,” Trump said Friday. “I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Iranian state TV the talks were “indirect” with the delegations in “different halls” at the embassy. He earlier wrote Saturday on X that Iran “always demonstrated, with good faith and a sense of responsibility, its commitment to diplomacy as a civilized 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 the past experiences,” Baghaei added.

Araghchi met Saturday morning with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani ahead of the talks with Witkoff. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, also met Tajani on Saturday. Grossi’s agency would likely be key in verifying compliance by Iran should a deal be reached, as it did with the 2015 accord Iran reached with world powers.

Tajani said Italy was ready “to facilitate the continuation of the talks even for sessions at the technical level.” A diplomat deal “is built patiently, day after day, with dialogue and mutual respect,” he said in a statement.

Both men have been traveling in recent days. Witkoff had been in Paris for talks about Ukraine as Russia’s full-scale war there grinds on. Araghchi will be coming from Tehran, Iran, after a visit to Moscow, where he met with officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia, one of the world powers involved in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal, could be a key participant in any future deal reached between Tehran and Washington. Analysts suggest Moscow could potentially take custody of Iran’s uranium enriched to 60% purity _ a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Oman’s capital, Muscat, hosted the first round of negotiations between Araghchi and Witkoff last weekend, which saw the two men meet face to face after indirect talks. Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, has long served as an interlocutor between Iran and the West.

Ahead of the talks, however, Iran seized on comments by Witkoff first suggesting Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later saying that all enrichment must stop. Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote on X before the talks that Iran would not accept giving up its enrichment program like Libya, or agreeing to using uranium enriched abroad for its nuclear program.

“Iran has come for a balanced agreement, not a surrender,” he wrote.

Iran’s internal politics are still inflamed over the mandatory hijab, or headscarf, with women still ignoring the law on the streets of Tehran. Rumors also persist over the government potentially increasing the cost of subsidized gasoline in the country, which has sparked nationwide protests in the past.

Iran’s rial currency plunged to over 1 million to a U.S. dollar earlier this month. The currency has improved with the talks, however, something Tehran hopes will continue.

Meanwhile, two used Airbus A330-200 long sought by Iran’s flag carrier, Iran Air, arrived at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport on Thursday, flight-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed. The planes, formerly of China’s Hainan Airlines, had been in Muscat and re-registered to Iran.

The aircraft had Rolls-Royce engines, which included significant American parts and servicing. Such a transaction would need approval from the U.S. Treasury given sanctions on Iran. The State Department and Treasury did not respond to requests for comment.

Under the 2015 deal, Iran could purchase new aircraft and had lined up tens of billions of dollars in deals with Airbus and Boeing Co. However, the manufacturers backed away from the deals over Trump’s threats to the nuclear accord.

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