A fifth spherical of nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran will happen in Rome on Friday, Oman says.
Washington, DC – Officers from Iran and the USA will maintain one other round of talks in Rome on Friday, Oman’s International Minister Badr Albusaidi has stated, regardless of the rising hole between the 2 international locations over uranium enrichment.
Wednesday’s affirmation that the nuclear negotiations would proceed comes after days of Washington and Tehran expressing irreconcilable positions on Iranian uranium enrichment.
US officers have stated they need Iran not simply to reduce its nuclear programme, but in addition to cease enriching uranium altogether — a place that Tehran has stated is a nonstarter.
Enrichment is the method of altering the uranium atom to create nuclear gasoline.
Iran’s supreme chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, additionally stated on Tuesday that his nation doesn’t want US permission to counterpoint uranium.
“Saying issues like ‘We won’t permit Iran to counterpoint uranium’ is nonsense,” he was quoted as saying by the Mehr Information Company.
The fifth spherical of Iran US talks will happen in Rome this Friday twenty third Might.
— Badr Albusaidi – بدر البوسعيدي (@badralbusaidi) May 21, 2025
His assertion was in response to the US’s lead negotiator, Steve Witkoff, dubbing uranium enrichment a “crimson line” and saying that Washington “can not permit even 1 p.c of an enrichment functionality”.
A number of Iranian and US officers have reiterated their respective international locations’ positions.
Washington has stated Iran can function nuclear reactors for vitality manufacturing by importing already enriched uranium, arguing that the home uranium manufacturing by Tehran dangers potential weaponisation.
Iran, which denies in search of a nuclear weapon, says uranium enrichment for civilian functions is its proper as a sovereign nation.
Israel, the highest US ally within the Center East, is broadly believed to have an undeclared nuclear arsenal.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened Iran with navy motion if the 2 international locations don’t attain a deal, stressing that he won’t permit Tehran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Throughout his first time period, in 2018, Trump nixed the Joint Complete Plan of Motion (JCPOA), which noticed Iran reduce its nuclear programme in trade for the lifting of worldwide sanctions in opposition to its economic system.
Since then, the US has been piling sanctions on the Iranian economic system.
After his return to the White Home for a second time period in January, Trump renewed his “most stress” programme against Iran, largely by way of financial penalties. He has, for instance, pledged to choke off the nation’s oil exports, significantly to China.
Iran has been defiant within the face of Trump’s threats, promising to defend itself in opposition to any assault.
Tensions started to ease in April because the US and Iran started to carry talks mediated by Oman, however it’s not clear how the 2 sides will bridge the disagreement over Tehran’s enrichment programme.
On Sunday, Iranian International Minister Abbas Araghchi instructed that the US place has been shifting, stressing that “there isn’t any situation” by which Iran will hand over enrichment.
“Iran can solely management what we Iranians do, and that’s to keep away from negotiating in public — significantly given the present dissonance we’re seeing between what our U.S. interlocutors say in public and in personal, and from one week to the opposite,” Araghchi wrote in a social media put up.
