Top Iranian and U.S. negotiators began a new round of indirect talks on Saturday to hammer out a deal curbing Tehran’s nuclear programme, while U.S. President Donald Trump signalled confidence in clinching a new pact that would block Iran’s path to a nuclear bomb.
Experts met before Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was due to negotiate indirectly with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Muscat on Saturday through Omani mediators, a week after a second round in Rome that both sides described as constructive.
Trump has spent the beginning of his second term in office trying to broker deals on some of the world’s biggest conflicts and crises, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Israel’s assault on Gaza and the thorny issue of Iran’s nuclear programme.
The Islamic Republic, for its part, has signalled it is keen to get sanctions’ relief as its economy continues to suffer, and after more than a year of military setbacks at the hands of its regional foe Israel.
Iranian state media reported on Saturday that talks had begun. “A third round of negotiations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America started in Muscat,” news agency IRNA said, without giving other details.
A source close to the Iranian negotiating team said that experts from both sides met on Saturday.
Talks are set to start at expert-level, which will begin drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, ahead of an indirect meeting between the lead negotiators.
Trump, in an interview with Time magazine published on Friday, said “I think we’re going to make a deal with Iran”, but he repeated a threat of military action against Iran if diplomacy fails.
While both Tehran and Washington have said they are set on pursuing diplomacy, they remain far apart on a dispute that has rumbled on for more than two decades.
