Iran Confirms Nuclear Talks with US to be Held in Rome, IAEA Chief Arrives in Tehran

Iran has confirmed that its next round of nuclear talks with the United States will take place in Rome this weekend, following earlier confusion over the location, Al Jazeera reports.

The announcement, made on Iranian state television on Wednesday, comes as President Masoud Pezeshkian formally approved the resignation of a key vice president, who served as Tehran’s lead negotiator in the 2015 nuclear deal.

Adding to the diplomatic activity, Rafael Grossi, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), arrived in Tehran on Wednesday for talks expected to include discussions on IAEA inspector access under any potential agreement.

State television reported that Oman will once again mediate the talks, scheduled for Saturday in Rome. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi previously acted as an intermediary during negotiations held last weekend in Muscat, Oman’s capital.

The shifting information about the location of the talks created some uncertainty earlier this week. While some officials initially pointed to Rome as the venue, Iran later insisted its team would return to Oman. US officials have remained publicly silent on the location, although President Trump reportedly spoke with Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq on Tuesday, while the Sultan was in the Netherlands.

The negotiations are occurring amidst heightened tensions between the US and Iran concerning the latter’s nuclear program. Trump has repeatedly threatened potential air strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities if a deal is not reached. Iranian officials, in turn, have increasingly suggested they might pursue nuclear weapons given their current stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Grossi’s arrival in Tehran for meetings with Pezeshkian and other officials, likely to be held on Thursday, underscores the urgency of the situation. Shortly before his arrival, Grossi warned that Iran was “not far” from possessing a nuclear bomb.

Since the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal following Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of the US from the accord in 2018, Iran has abandoned all limits on its nuclear program. It now enriches uranium to up to 60 percent purity, approaching the 90 percent level needed for weapons-grade material. Furthermore, surveillance cameras installed by the IAEA have been disrupted, and some of the agency’s most experienced inspectors have been barred from the country. Iranian officials have also issued increasingly frequent threats about pursuing atomic weapons, a concern that has been shared by Western nations and the IAEA for years.