Muscat/Tehran, May 22
Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi has said that the fifth round of indirect talks between the US and Iran will be held in Rome on Friday. The announcement was made in a post on his official X account.
The talks, aimed at reviving stalled diplomacy over Iran's nuclear program and US sanctions, are being facilitated by Oman, Xinhua news agency reported.
Four rounds have taken place since April, three in Muscat and one in Rome.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that Tehran was still considering whether to participate in the upcoming talks in the face of "excessive demands" from the US, according to Iran's state news agency IRNA.
"We will stand against excessive demands at the negotiating table, but we have never abandoned diplomacy," Araghchi said, adding that uranium enrichment would continue "with or without an agreement".
He reiterated that Iran is prepared to offer transparency regarding its nuclear activities, but expects negotiations to also address the lifting of US sanctions and embargoes imposed on the country.
On Wednesday, Iranian First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Aref told a Cabinet meeting in the Iranian capital Tehran that uranium enrichment on Iran's soil is the "red line" of Iran's establishment in its indirect talks with the US.
US and Iranian officials have described the previous round of talks in Muscat on May 11 as "difficult but useful," noting a generally positive tone despite persistent differences.
US officials have in recent days called for Iran to fully halt uranium enrichment -- an issue Tehran has repeatedly declared to be non-negotiable.
Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed doubt this week over the talks.
"We don't think it will lead to any outcome. We don't know what will happen," he said.
Denying Iran's right to enrich uranium was "a big mistake," Khamenei added.
His remarks came after the US' key negotiator in the talks, Steve Witkoff, voiced opposition to any Iranian uranium enrichment.
"An enrichment programme can never exist in the state of Iran ever again. That's our red line. No enrichment," he told right-wing Breitbart News in an interview published on May 9.
Iran has repeatedly insisted its right to maintain uranium enrichment was "non-negotiable".
On Sunday, Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Iran would keep enriching uranium "with or without a deal" on his country's nuclear programme.
The Islamic republic currently enriches uranium to 60 per cent, far above the 3.67-per cent limit set in the 2015 deal but below the 90 per cent needed for a nuclear warhead.
Trump effectively torpedoed the deal in 2018 during his first term, by unilaterally pulling out and reimposing sanctions on Iran's oil exports and banking sector.
A year later, Iran began rolling back its commitments to the agreement, which had offered sanctions relief in return for UN-monitored restrictions on its nuclear activities.
The three European powers -- party to the 2015 accord -- are weighing whether to trigger the "snapback" mechanism, which would reinstate UN sanctions in response to Iranian non-compliance. That option expires in October.
Araghchi earlier this month warned of "irreversible" consequences if Britain, France and Germany moved to reimpose sanctions.
- IANS
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