Iran and the United States are set to hold the next round of discussions regarding the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme in Rome later this week, according to announcements made on Wednesday by both Tehran and mediation partner Oman.
The longstanding adversaries have already held four rounds of talks since April 12— marking the highest-level engagement between the two nations since former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement during his first term.
“The fifth round of Iran-US talks will take place in Rome this Friday,” Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi announced in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Iran subsequently confirmed its participation.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei stated that Tehran had accepted “a proposal put forward by [mediator] Oman… to organise another round of Iran-US talks” in the Italian capital.
The purpose of the talks is to secure a new agreement that would restrict Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
Western powers, including the United States, have long accused Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons capabilities — a claim Iran consistently denies, maintaining that its nuclear ambitions are strictly peaceful.
This week, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast doubt over the talks.
“We don’t think it will lead to any outcome. We don’t know what will happen,” he said, warning that denying Iran the right to enrich uranium was “a big mistake”.
His remarks came in response to comments by the United States’ lead negotiator in the discussions, Steve Witkoff, who told right-wing outlet Breitbart News on 9 May: “An enrichment programme can never exist in the state of Iran ever again. That’s our red line. No enrichment.”
Tehran, however, maintains that its right to enrich uranium is “non-negotiable”.
On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated that Tehran would continue enriching uranium “with or without a deal”.
At present, Iran is enriching uranium up to 60 percent purity — far above the 3.67 percent ceiling set in the 2015 agreement, but still below the 90 percent required for a nuclear weapon.
In 2018, Trump effectively dismantled the nuclear accord by unilaterally withdrawing the United States and reimposing sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and banking sector.
A year later, Iran began scaling back its commitments under the agreement, which had previously offered sanctions relief in return for United Nations-monitored limitations on its nuclear activities.
Now, the three European signatories to the deal — the United Kingdom, France, and Germany — are weighing whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism, which would automatically reinstate UN sanctions in response to Iranian non-compliance. This option remains available only until October.
Earlier this month, Araghchi warned of “irreversible” consequences should the European powers move to reimpose sanctions.