Iran and the United States have agreed to assign teams of experts to begin drafting a framework for a possible nuclear deal, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced.

In the second round of indirect talks held between the delegations of the two countries in a week, Araghchi negotiated for nearly four hours in Rome with US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, via an Omani official who relayed messages between them.

Speaking on Iranian television after the talks, Aragchi described them as useful. The heads of the negotiating teams are scheduled to meet again in Oman next Saturday to review the work completed by these experts.

The Iranian minister also noted that the US has not raised any other issue during the talks, apart from the nuclear programme. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Iranian state television immediately after the talks that Iran would continue the discussions in earnest in pursuit of lifting the crippling economic sanctions on the country.

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A US official also confirmed that the talks had concluded, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Iranian officials described the talks as indirect, as with those held last weekend in Muscat, Oman, with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi shuttling between the two men in separate rooms.

The fact that talks are now taking place between the two sides is a historic moment, given the decades of hostility between the countries.

Trump, in his first term, unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018, sparking attacks and years of negotiations that failed to restore the agreement, which had significantly curtailed Tehran’s uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Meanwhile, tensions in the Middle East have escalated due to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and following US airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, which killed over 70 people and injured dozens more.

Source: Euronews

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