INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to hold another round of talks next week over Tehrans nuclear ambitions, Iranian state TV
reported, as they ended their second round of negotiations in Rome over their decades-long standoff.
Irans Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi
and President Donald Trumps Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff negotiated indirectly through an Omani official who will shuttle messages
between the two sides, Iranian officials said, a week after a first round of indirect talks in Muscat that both sides described as
constructive.
Araqchi and Witkoff interacted briefly at the end of the first round, but officials from the two countries have not held
direct negotiations since 2015 under former United States President Barack Obama.
Araqchi, in a meeting with his Italian counterpart ahead
of the talks, said Iran had always been committed to diplomacy and called on all parties involved in the talks to seize the opportunity to
reach a reasonable and logical nuclear deal.
Such an agreement should respect Irans legitimate rights and lead to the lifting of unjust
sanctions on the country while addressing any doubts about its nuclear work, Araqchi was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
He said in
Moscow on Friday that Iran believes reaching an agreement on its nuclear programme with the United States is possible as long as Washington
is realistic.
Rome becomes the capital of peace and dialogue, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on X
I encouraged (Araqchi) to follow the path of negotiation against nuclear arms
The hope of the Italian government is that all together may find a positive solution for the Middle East.
Tehran has however sought to tamp
down expectations of a quick deal, after some Iranian officials speculated that sanctions could be lifted soon
Irans utmost authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said this week he was neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic.
For his
part, Trump told reporters on Friday: Im for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon
They cant have a nuclear weapon
I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.
Meanwhile, Israel has not ruled out an attack on Irans nuclear facilities in the coming
months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Trump, who ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran
and six powers during his first term in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on Tehran, has revived his maximum pressure campaign on the
country since returning to the White House in January.
Washington wants Iran to halt production of highly enriched uranium, which it
believes is aimed at building an atomic bomb.
Tehran, which has always maintained its nuclear programme is peaceful, says it is willing to
negotiate some curbs in return for the lifting of sanctions, but wants watertight guarantees that Washington will not renege again.
Since
2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deals limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is
necessary for a civilian energy programme.
A senior Iranian official, who described Irans negotiating position on condition of anonymity,
listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched
uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
Iran also rejects negotiating about defence capabilities such as its ballistic
missile program and the range of Tehrans domestically-produced missiles.
Russia, a party to Irans 2015 nuclear agreement, has offered to
assist, mediate, and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the United States .
(Reuters)
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Rome, agree to meet next week first appeared on TINS News.
