ROME (Dispatches) -- Talks between Iran and the U.S. will move to the “expert level” next week, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, following the second round of indirect negotiations with President Donald Trump’s chief negotiator Steve Witkoff here on Saturday.
Araghchi indicated that talks are continuing, saying that negotiations will move to the next phase with technical talks held at the “expert level” on Wednesday. Araghchi added that he and Witkoff would conduct a third round of indirect negotiations next Saturday after the start of this week’s technical discussions.
According to Araghchi, the two officials spoke indirectly — with representatives from Oman serving as a go-between — for roughly four hours on Saturday, almost double the length of last week’s session. At the end of last week’s session, Witkoff and Araghchi briefly spoke directly, both sides said.
Speaking to Iranian national television, Araghchi said that “negotiations are moving forward,” and added that the two officials were able to reach a “better understanding about a series of principles and goals.”
“Iran will continue as far as talks go on in a constructive and purposeful way,” he added.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the indirect talks were held at the residence of the Omani ambassador in Rome and in two separate halls.
He added that Iran participated in the sanctions-removal talks “with complete seriousness and readiness” and will continue its cooperation as long as the talks proceed in a constructive way.
“Iran’s nuclear program is completely peaceful, and Iran is ready to dispel any doubts in this regard,” Baghaei asserted.
Iran’s “fixed and principled” stance during the talks with the U.S., he said, is the removal of the “unlawful” sanctions in a reliable manner with all the necessary guarantees.
Oman said the third round would be in Muscat, returning to the site of the first talks a week ago.
A statement from the Omani Foreign Ministry, which has been acting as a mediator, outlined further details about the talks.
The two officials “have agreed to enter into the next phase of their discussions that aim to seal a fair, enduring and binding deal which will ensure Iran completely free of nuclear weapons and sanctions, and maintaining its ability to develop peaceful nuclear energy,” the Omani statement read.
In a separate post, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi thanked Witkoff and Araghchi for their “highly constructive approach” to the negotiations, saying: “These talks are gaining momentum and now even the unlikely is possible.”
Last week’s talks, where Witkoff and Araghchi spoke directly, marked the first known direct engagement between Iranian and U.S. officials under the Trump administration.
U.S. President Donald Trump, in his first term, unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal with world countries in 2018, setting off years of negotiations that failed to restore the accord.
Iranian officials informed U.S. negotiators during talks in Oman last week that Tehran requires “watertight guarantees” that Washington will not again quit a nuclear deal in order to “accept some limits on its uranium enrichment,” according to a report by Reuters.
“Tehran’s red lines ‘mandated by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’ could not be compromised in the talks,” the British news outlet cited what it called a senior Iranian official without identifying him.
The red lines reportedly include dismantling Iran’s centrifuges for enriching uranium, halting enrichment altogether, or reducing the amount of enriched uranium the Islamic Republic currently possesses. Negotiators will also “not negotiate over [Iran’s] missile program, which Tehran views as outside the scope of any nuclear deal,” the report said.
“Iran understood in indirect talks in Oman that Washington doesn’t want Iran to stop all nuclear activities, and this can be a common ground for Iran and the U.S. to start a fair negotiation,” the source added.
The report was published hours after Araghchi said from Moscow that a new nuclear deal is possible if Washington makes no “unreasonable demands.”
“We will only negotiate over the nuclear issue, and other topics will not be included in these negotiations … I believe there is a possibility of reaching an agreement if they demonstrate seriousness of intent and make no unrealistic and unreasonable demands,” Araghchi said during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
Earlier this week, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei said the first round of talks in Oman was “implemented well in their initial steps,” but added that the Islamic Republic is “very skeptical” of the other side.
During his first term in office, Trump unilaterally abandoned the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and launched a “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign against Iran.
Trump restored that policy after returning to the White House in January. However, he has since indicated a willingness to negotiate a new deal.