Tehran urges caution as nuclear talks with US move to Oman next week
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi cautioned against premature conclusions and unrealistic expectations as talks with the United States on Iran's nuclear programme were set to continue in Muscat next week.
"There are no grounds either for optimism or for pessimism," he said following the second round of talks in Rome with US President Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Tehran was taking a step-by-step approach to the talks, Araghchi said, according to the website of the Iranian daily Etemad. Expectations should remain realistic, and results would emerge only in subsequent rounds, he said.
Following the meetings in Rome, the two sides agreed to continue technical negotiations on Wednesday and a third political round next weekend, both in the Omani capital. Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi will continue to mediate.
Observers believe that the technical negotiations will focus primarily on uranium enrichment, one of the most controversial issues.
Tehran has indicated it is prepared to return to the agreed upper limit, but only if economic sanctions are lifted in return. Unfreezing its large foreign balances estimated at more than $100 billion, is a key demand.
It is also demanding guarantees that a future agreement will be durable and rejects a Libyan style complete renunciation of nuclear technology.
In an interview with Italy's La Repubblica newspaper published on Sunday, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi expressed optimism on the talks.
Both sides were "prepared to discuss concrete aspects with each other," Grossi said.
Grossi said he was satisfied with progress to date. "The talks really could have collapsed in this second round. Then everything would have come to a halt," he said.
"The risk was there. Instead the spirit of Rome showed it is possible to make progress," the IAEA head said without providing details.
The US and Iranian delegations broke up after four hours on Saturday without making recognizable progress towards resolving the years-long stalemate over Iran's nuclear capabilities.
Israel, the US and many Western countries accuse Tehran of working towards a nuclear arsenal, while Iran denies this. Trump has threatened military consequences on several occasions.
Israel is the only nuclear power in the region.
The 2015 deal which Tehran struck with the US, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, provided for the easing of economic sanctions on Iran as long as it restricted enrichment to 3.67%.
Iran has now enriched uranium to 60%. The deal was also to be subject to a stringent inspection regime.
In 2018, during his first term, Trump announced the US was withdrawing from the deal and reimposed sanctions. Iran subsequently announced it had resumed enrichment. Trump is now demanding a new agreement.
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