Iran, US resume talks in Oman to narrow gaps over new nuclear deal

Muscat: Top Iranian and US negotiators began a new round of indirect talks on Saturday to hammer out a deal curbing Tehran's nuclear programme, while US President Donald Trump signalled confidence in clinching a new pact that would block Iran's path to a nuclear bomb.

Experts met before Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was due to negotiate indirectly with Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Muscat on Saturday through Omani mediators, a week after a second round in Rome that both sides described as constructive.

Trump has spent the beginning of his second term in office trying to broker deals on some of the world's biggest conflicts and crises, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Israel's assault on Gaza and the thorny issue of Iran's nuclear programme.

The Islamic Republic, for its part, has signalled it is keen to get sanctions' relief as its economy continues to suffer, and after more than a year of military setbacks at the hands of its regional foe Israel.

Iranian state media reported on Saturday that talks had begun. "A third round of negotiations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America started in Muscat," news agency IRNA said, without giving other details.

A source close to the Iranian negotiating team said that experts from both sides met on Saturday.

Talks are set to start at expert-level, which will begin drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, ahead of an indirect meeting between the lead negotiators.

Trump, in an interview with Time magazine published on Friday, said "I think we're going to make a deal with Iran", but he repeated a threat of military action against Iran if diplomacy fails.

While both Tehran and Washington have said they are set on pursuing diplomacy, they remain far apart on a dispute that has rumbled on for more than two decades.

Maximum Pressure

Trump, who has restored a "maximum pressure" campaign on Tehran since February, ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers in 2018 during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.

Since 2019, Iran has breached the pact's nuclear curbs including "dramatically" accelerating its enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% level that is weapons grade, according to the UN nuclear watchdog.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week Iran would have to entirely stop enriching uranium under a deal, and import any enriched uranium it needed to fuel its sole functioning atomic energy plant, Bushehr.

Tehran is willing to negotiate some curbs on its nuclear work in return for the lifting of sanctions, according to Iranian officials, but ending its enrichment programme or surrendering its enriched uranium stockpile are among "Iran's red lines that could not be compromised" in the talks.

Moreover, European states have suggested to US negotiators that a comprehensive deal should include limits preventing Iran from acquiring or finalising the capacity to put a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile, several European diplomats said.

Tehran insists its defence capabilities like its missile programme are not negotiable and Tehran's clerical rulers say its missile programme poses no threat to regional countries. An Iranian official with knowledge of the talks said on Friday that Tehran sees its missile programme as a bigger obstacle in the talks.

Iran fired scores of ballistic missiles at Israel last year after Israel assassinated Iranian commanders and allied paramilitary leaders in a regional escalation sparked by the Gaza war.