U.S., Iran to Hold More Negotiations Next Week

World 07:22 PM - 2025-04-12

U.S. & Iranian flags.

Iran and the United States will hold more negotiations next week over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme, Iranian state television reported Saturday, 12 April 2025, at the end of the first round of talks between the two countries since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi posted on his Telegram channel that his delegation had a brief encounter with its U.S. counterpart, headed by Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, after they exited the indirect talks mediated by Oman.

"After the end of more than 2-1/2 hours of indirect talks, the heads of the Iranian and American delegations spoke for a few minutes in the presence of the Omani foreign minister as they left the talks," Araqchi said.

He said the talks - a first between Iran and a Trump administration, including his first term in 2017-21 - took place in a "productive and positive atmosphere".

"Both sides have agreed to continue the talks next week," Araqchi wrote, without elaborating about the venue and date.

Underlining the profound rift between the U.S. and Iran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei earlier said on X that each delegation had its separate room and would exchange messages via Oman's foreign minister.

The stakes of the negotiations couldn’t be higher for the two nations closing in on half a century of enmity. U.S. President Trump repeatedly has threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Talks took place Saturday afternoon in Oman

Associated Press journalists saw a convoy believed to be carrying Witkoff leave the Omani Foreign Ministry on Saturday afternoon and then speed off into the outskirts of Muscat. The convoy went into a compound and a few minutes later, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei wrote on the social platform X that the “indirect talks” had begun.

Afterward, Araghchi described the meeting as constructive to Iranian state TV, with four rounds of messages exchanged during the indirect portion.

“Neither we nor the other side are interested in fruitless negotiations — so-called ‘talks for the sake of talks,’ wasting time, or drawn-out, exhausting negotiations,” he said. “Both sides, including the Americans, have said that their goal is also to reach an agreement in the shortest possible time. However, that will certainly not be an easy task.”

Badr al-Busaidi, Oman’s foreign minister who shuttled between the two sides, said the countries have a “shared aim of concluding a fair and binding agreement.”

“I would like to thank my two colleagues for this engagement, which took place in a friendly atmosphere conducive to bridging viewpoints and ultimately achieving regional and global peace, security and stability,” al-Busaidi wrote on X. “We will continue to work together and put further efforts to assist in arriving at this goal.”

Sanctions relief and enrichment remain top issues

It is uncertain how much Iran will be prepared to give up, even though the United States can provide sanctions relief for Iran's struggling economy. Iran was only allowed to keep a modest stockpile of uranium that was enriched to 3.67% under the terms of the 2015 nuclear agreement. Tehran has some material enriched up to 60%, which is a short technological step away from weapons-grade levels, and its stockpile today might enable it to produce many nuclear bombs if it so chooses. Iran would probably request to continue enriching uranium up to at least 20%, based on discussions since U.S. President Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the agreement in 2018.



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