Negotiators for Iran and the United States have concluded a fifth round of talks, as mediator Oman said there was some limited progress in negotiations aimed at resolving a decades-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
“The fifth round of Iran-US talks have concluded today in Rome with some, but not conclusive, progress,” said Omani mediator Badr al-Busaidi after Friday’s meeting at the Omani embassy in Rome’s Camilluccia neighbourhood.
“We hope to clarify the remaining issues in the coming days,” he said after the high-level talks, which were led by Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
Araghchi told Iranian state television that the talks had been “one of the most professional rounds of negotiations” so far, noting that, while an agreement had not been reached, the Iranian side was “not discouraged”.
“We firmly stated Iran’s position … The fact that we are now on a reasonable path, in my view, is itself a sign of progress,”
“The proposals and solutions will be reviewed in respective capitals … and the next round of talks will be scheduled accordingly.”
Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said earlier that chief US negotiator Steve Witkoff had left the negotiations early “due to his flight schedule”, but that they had continued in a “sane and calm atmosphere”.
The ongoing talks seek a new deal in which Iran would be prevented from producing nuclear weapons while having international sanctions eased.
However, little progress has been made so far, and both Washington and Tehran have taken a tough stance in public in recent days, particularly regarding Iran’s enrichment of uranium.
Witkoff has said Iran cannot be allowed to carry out any enrichment.
