Iran and the United States are set to hold a second round of talks on Saturday in Rome, a week after a first round of negotiations in Oman which both sides described as positive.
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.
Former U.S. President Joe Biden, whose administration unsuccessfully tried to reinstate the 2015 pact, was not able to meet Tehran’s demand for guarantees that no future U.S. administration would renege on it.
Tehran’s red lines “mandated by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei” could not be compromised in the talks, the official told Reuters, describing Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity.
He added those red lines meant Iran would never agree to dismantle its centrifuges for enriching uranium, halt enrichment altogether, or reduce the amount of enriched uranium it stores to a level below the level it agreed in the 2015 deal that Trump abandoned.
“Iran understood in indirect talks in Oman that Washington doesn’t want Iran to stop all nuclear activities, and this can be a common ground for Iran and the U.S. to start a fair negotiation,” the source stated.
Iran announced on Friday reaching a deal with the United States was possible if “they demonstrate seriousness of intent and do not make unrealistic demands”.
Top U.S. negotiator Steve Witkoff, in a post on X on Tuesday, said Iran must “stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment” to reach a deal with Washington.
Tehran has stressed that it is ready to work with the U.N. nuclear agency, which it sees as “the only acceptable body in this process”, to provide assurances that its nuclear work is peaceful, according to the source.
The source added Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi had told the Americans that, in return for that cooperation, Washington should promptly lift sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors.
