Hope soar: Tehran’s n-program talks make progress

Iran and the US plan to meet over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program again next week, after both sides said they made progress in their talks on Saturday in Rome.

A US official confirmed at a point during the negotiations in Rome, President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke face to face.

Before they meet again in Oman on April 26, Araghchi said technical-level talks would be held. That experts would be discussing details of a possible deal suggests movement in the talks and comes as Trump has pushed for a rapid agreement while threatening military action against Iran.

The sides “made very good progress in our direct and indirect discussions,” according to a senior Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private diplomatic meeting.

In a post on X, Araghchi similarly said they made “progress on principles and objectives of a possible deal.” He added, however, that “optimism may be warranted but only with a great deal of caution.” He told Iranian state television earlier that “I hope that we will be in a better position after the technical talks.”

While the US said both direct and indirect discussions were held, Iranian officials described them as indirect, like those last weekend in Muscat, Oman, with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi shuttling between them in different rooms.

“These talks are gaining momentum and now even the unlikely is possible,” al-Busaidi said on X.

In a post, Oman’s Foreign Ministry said the sides agreed to keep talking for a deal that ensures Iran is “completely free of nuclear weapons and sanctions, and maintaining its ability to develop peaceful nuclear energy.”

That talks are even happening represents a historic moment, given the decades of enmity between the two countries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the US Embassy hostage crisis. Trump, in his first term, unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018, setting off years of attacks and negotiations that failed to restore the accord that drastically limited Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

At risk is a possible American or Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, or the Iranians following through on threats to pursue an atomic weapon. Meanwhile, tensions in the Middle East have spiked over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza and after US airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels killed over 70 people and wounded dozens more.

“I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon,” Trump said Friday. “I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”

Before the Iran talks started, Witkoff met in Rome with Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of International Atomic Energy Agency, according to a person familiar with the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity to share details that were not made public.

The UN nuclear watchdog agency would likely be key in verifying compliance by Iran should a deal be reached, as it did with the 2015 accord Iran reached with world powers.

Grossi also met with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who sat down with Araghchi before the US-Iran talks. A diplomatic deal “is built patiently, day after day, with dialogue and mutual respect,” Tajani said.

Ahead of the talks, however, Iran seized on comments by Witkoff first suggesting Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later saying that all enrichment must stop. Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote on X that Iran would not accept giving up its enrichment program like Libya or agreeing to using uranium enriched abroad for its nuclear program.

“Iran has come for a balanced agr- eement, not a surrender,” he wrote.

Iran’s internal politics are still inflamed over the mandatory hijab, or headscarf, with women still ignoring the law on the streets of Tehran. Rumors also persist over the government potentially increasing the cost of subsidised gasoline, which has sparked nationwide protests in the past.

Iran’s rial currency plunged to over 1 million to a US dollar earlier this month. The currency has improved with the talks, however, something Tehran hopes will continue.

Meanwhile, two used Airbus A330-200 long sought by Iran’s flag carrier, Iran Air, arrived at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport on Thursday, flight-tracking data analysed by The Associated Press showed. The planes, formerly of China’s Hainan Airlines, had been in Muscat and re-registered to Iran.

Under the 2015 deal, Iran could purchase new aircraft and had lined up tens of billions of dollars in deals with Airbus and Boeing Co. However, the manufacturers backed away over Trump’s threats to the nuclear accord.

The Associated Press