Iran sees hope for progress after US nuclear talks

DUBAI: Iranian and US negotiators wrapped up a fifth round of talks on Friday, with mediator Oman saying there was some limited progress in negotiations aimed at resolving a decades-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

The sides will meet again, though the date and venue still have to be decided, a source close to the Iranian team told Reuters. There was no immediate comment from the US delegation at Friday’s session in Rome.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there was potential for progress in the negotiations after Oman made several proposals, but the talks were complicated and more discussions were needed.

“We’ve just completed one of the most professional rounds of negotiations,” Araqchi told Iranian state TV. The stakes are high for both sides. President Donald Trump wants to curtail Tehran’s potential to produce a nuclear weapon that could trigger a regional nuclear arms race and perhaps threaten Israel. The Islamic Republic, for its part, wants to be rid of devastating sanctions on its oil-based economy.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, whose country is mediating the negotiations, said on X the fifth round of talks had ended “with some but not conclusive progress”. “We hope to clarify the remaining issues in the coming days, to allow us to proceed towards the common goal of reaching a sustainable and honourable agreement,” he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoySteve Witkoff had led the fifth round of talks through the Omani mediators, Iranian media reported.

Both Washington and Tehran have taken a tough stance in public over Iran’s intensifying uranium enrichment programme, which could potentially give it scope to build a nuclear weapon, though Tehran says it has no such ambitions and the purposes are purely civilian.

Ahead of the talks, Araqchi wrote on X: “Zero nuclear weapons = we Do have a deal. Zero enrichment = we do NOT have a deal. Time to decide.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had told reporters on Thursday that Trump believes negotiations with Iran are “moving in the right direction”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that Washington was working to reach an accord that would allow Iran to have a civil nuclear energy programme but not enrich uranium, while acknowledging that this “will not be easy”.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last say on matters of state, rejected demands to stop refining uranium as “excessive and outrageous”, warning that such talks were unlikely to yield results.

Among remaining stumbling blocks are Tehran’s refusal to ship abroad its entire stockpile of highly enriched uranium - possible raw material for nuclear bombs - or engage in discussions over its ballistic missile programme, which could carry warheads over long distances. Iran says it is ready to accept some limits on enrichment, but needs watertight guarantees that Washington would not renege on a future nuclear accord.