Iran nuclear talks expected to continue in Rome – Axios

A second round of nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran is expected to take place in Rome on Saturday, Axios reported citing two sources with knowledge of the issue.

The Trump administration was satisfied with the first round of talks in Oman, which went according to plan and achieved their objective of shifting the format from indirect — handled through intermediaries — to direct, with officials conversing directly, according to Axios.

The Trump administration wants that to be the format in Rome, a venue switch suggested by the U.S. side.

The two lead negotiators, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, spoke for around 45 minutes on Saturday — longer than was revealed publicly, a source with knowledge told Axios.

The source described that conversation, the highest-level dialogue between U.S. and Iranian officials in eight years, as "substantive, serious and excellent."

The Iranians raised the fact that President Trump withdrew from the previous Iran deal and expressed concern that the U.S. could walk away again, the two sources say.

The U.S. side raised its own doubts about Iran's intentions regarding its nuclear program.

But officials on both sides have said they see a path forward after several hours of talks on Saturday. However, the Iranians have downplayed the idea that the next round of talks would be in a direct format.

The U.S. now wants to see Iran take steps in the near future to move its nuclear program further from weaponization.

One of the sources said one such step could be "downblending" Iran's stockpile of near-weapons-grade 60% enriched Uranium, which could be enough for six nuclear bombs.

Iran has denied having plans to develop nuclear weapons.