Rome: The United States and Iran are set to resume high-stakes talks Saturday on Tehran’s nuclear program, a week after an initial round of discussions that both sides described as “constructive.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Rome, images broadcast early Saturday by Iranian state television showed, where he was set to join Oman-mediated talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
They come one week after the two sides conducted what Iran called indirect talks in Muscat. Those were the first discussions at such a high level between the foes since US President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear accord in 2018.
Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons — an allegation Tehran has consistently denied, insisting that its program is for peaceful civilian purposes.
Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.
Following his return to office in January, Trump revived his “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions against Iran.
In March he sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging renewed nuclear talks while warning of military action if diplomacy failed.
“I’m not in a rush” to use the military option, Trump said on Thursday. “I think Iran wants to talk.”
On Friday Araghchi said Iran “observed a degree of seriousness” on the US side during the first round but questioned their intentions.
“Although we have serious doubts about the intentions and motivations of the American side, in any case we will participate in tomorrow’s (Saturday’s) negotiations,” he said at a press conference in Moscow.
In a social media post early on Saturday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Tehran was “aware that it is not a smooth path but we take every step with open eyes, relying also on the past experiences.”
’Crucial stage’
In an interview published on Wednesday by French newspaper Le Monde, the United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Iran was “not far” from possessing a nuclear bomb.
During Trump’s first term, Washington withdrew from the 2015 accord between Tehran and world powers which offered Iran relief from international sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
Tehran complied with the agreement for a year after Trump’s withdrawal before scaling back its compliance.
Araghchi was a negotiator of the 2015 deal. His counterpart in Rome, Witkoff, is a real estate magnate Trump has also tasked with talks on Ukraine.
Iran currently enriches uranium up to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 limit in the deal but still below the 90 percent threshold required for weapons-grade material.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged European countries to decide on whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 agreement, which would automatically reinstate UN sanctions on Iran over its non-compliance.
The option to trigger the mechanism expires in October this year.
Iran has previously warned it could withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the mechanism were triggered.
Grossi, who held talks with Iranian officials during a visit to Tehran this week, said the US and Iran were “at a very crucial stage” in the talks and “don’t have much time” to secure a deal.
’Non-negotiable’
Iranian officials have insisted that the talks only focus on its nuclear program and lifting of sanctions.
Araghchi said a deal with the US was “likely” if Washington refrained from “making unreasonable and unrealistic demands,” without elaborating.
Analysts had said the United States would push to include discussions over Iran’s ballistic missile program as well as Tehran’s support for militants in the Middle East.
Araghchi said Iran’s right to enrich uranium was “non-negotiable,” after Witkoff called for its complete halt. Witkoff had previously demanded only that Iran return to the ceiling set by the 2015 deal.
On Tuesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the country’s military capabilities were off limits in the discussions.
Iran’s regional influence and its missile capabilities were among its “red lines” in the talks, the official IRNA news agency reported.
On Friday US ally Israel affirmed its unwavering commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, saying it had a “clear course of action” to prevent this.
Khamenei on Tuesday said Iranians should not pin hopes on progress in the negotiations which “may or may not yield results.”

VATICAN CITY: US Vice President JD Vance is meeting with the Vatican No. 2 official, following a remarkable papal rebuke of the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants and Vance’s theological justification of it.
Vance, a Catholic convert, was due to meet Saturday with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. There was speculation he might also briefly greet Pope Francis, who has begun resuming some official duties during his recovery from pneumonia.
Vance was spending Easter weekend in Rome with his family and attended Good Friday services in St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday after meeting with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.
Francis and Vance have tangled sharply over migration and the Trump administration’s plans to deport migrants en masse. Francis has made caring for migrants a hallmark of his papacy and his progressive views on social justice issues have often put him at odds with members of the more conservative US Catholic Church.
Vance, who converted in 2019, identifies with a small Catholic intellectual movement, viewed by some critics as having reactionary or authoritarian leanings, that is often called “postliberal.”
Postliberals share some longstanding Catholic conservative views, such as opposition to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. They envision a counterrevolution in which they take over government bureaucracy and institutions like universities from within, replacing entrenched “elites” with their own and acting upon their vision of the “common good.”
Just days before he was hospitalized in February, Francis blasted the Trump administration’s deportation plans, warning that they would deprive migrants of their inherent dignity. In a letter to US bishops, Francis also appeared to respond to Vance directly for having claimed that Catholic doctrine justified such policies.
Vance had defended the administration’s America-first crackdown by citing a concept from medieval Catholic theology known in Latin as “ordo amoris.” He has said the concept delineates a hierarchy of care — to family first, followed by neighbor, community, fellow citizens and lastly those elsewhere.
In his Feb. 10 letter, Francis appeared to correct Vance’s understanding of the concept.
“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extends to other persons and groups,” he wrote. “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’ that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
Vance has acknowledged Francis’ criticism but has said he would continue to defend his views. During a Feb. 28 appearance at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Vance didn’t address the issue specifically but called himself a “baby Catholic” and acknowledged there are “things about the faith that I don’t know.”
While he had criticized Francis on social media in the past, recently he has posted prayers for Francis’ recovery.
On Friday, Vance, his wife and three young children had front-row seats at the Vatican’s Good Friday service in St. Peter’s, a two-hour solemn commemoration featuring Latin and Italian readings. Francis did not attend.
But the pope has begun receiving visitors, including King Charles III, and this week ventured out of the Vatican to meet with prisoners at Rome’s central jail to keep a Holy Thursday appointment ministering to the most marginalized.
He has named other cardinals to preside over Easter services this weekend, but officials haven’t ruled out a possible brief greeting with Vance.
“I’m grateful every day for this job, but particularly today where my official duties have brought me to Rome on Good Friday,” Vance posted on X. “I wish all Christians all over the world, but particularly those back home in the US, a blessed Good Friday.”