Tehran (TDI): Iran confirmed Wednesday that the next round of nuclear negotiations with the United States this weekend will be held in Rome after earlier confusion over where the talks would be held.
The announcement by Iranian state television came as Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian formally approved the resignation of one of his vice presidents who served as Tehran’s key negotiator in its 2015 nuclear agreement with global powers.
The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi also arrived in Tehran on Wednesday.
His meetings may include discussions over just what access the IAEA inspectors can get under any proposed agreement.
The state TV announcement said Oman will again mediate the n negotiations on Saturday in Rome.
Oman’s foreign minister served as an interlocutor between the two sides at negotiations last weekend in Muscat.
Officials initially on Monday identified Rome as hosting the talks, only for Tehran to insist early Tuesday they would return to Oman.
US officials so far haven’t said publicly where the meeting will be held, though President Donald Trump did call Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq on Tuesday, while the ruler was on a visit to the Netherlands.
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The stakes of the talks couldn’t be higher for the two countries closing in on half a century of enmity.
Trump repeatedly has threatened to carry out airstrikes targeting Tehran’s nuclear program if an agreement isn’t reached.
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Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear bomb with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.
The former vice president, Mohammad Javad Zarif, served as a main supporter of Pezeshkian in his election in 2024 but drew criticism from hard-liners in the country, who long have alleged Zarif gave away too much in talks.
