Iran said on Sunday that the fourth round of negotiations it held with the US earlier in the day were “difficult but useful,” and both sides have agreed to hold more talks.
“The fourth round of indirect Iran-US negotiations is concluded; difficult but useful talks to better understand each other’s positions and to find reasonable & realistic ways to address the differences,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei wrote on X. “Next round will be coordinated and announced by Oman.”
A US official told Axios that an agreement was reached on moving forward and working out the technical details of a potential nuclear deal. “We are encouraged by today’s outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future,” the official said.
The US delegation was led by President Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the Iranian side was led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. According to the US official speaking to Axios, negotiations were held both indirectly and directly.
It remains unclear exactly what kind of conditions the US is looking to impose on Iran’s nuclear program. Publicly, US officials have been calling for Iran to eliminate its nuclear enrichment program, which is a non-starter for Tehran.
“Enrichment capability is one of the honors and achievements of the Iranian nation,” Aragchi said ahead of Sunday’s talks, adding that the issue was “non-negotiable.”
President Trump said last week that the US hasn’t decided yet if it would agree to a deal that would allow Iran to continue enriching uranium. He has been threatening to bomb Iran if a deal isn’t reached, even though his intelligence agencies recently reaffirmed that there’s no evidence Tehran is building a bomb or that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reversed his ban on the development of nuclear weapons.
