U.S. and Iran to resume nuclear talks amid clashing red lines

Iranian and U.S. negotiators will resume talks over Iran‘s nuclear ambitions, despite Tehran’s supreme leader warning that a new deal might be insurmountable.

Iranian and U.S. negotiators will resume talks on Friday in Rome to resolve a decades-long dispute over Iran‘s nuclear ambitions, despite Tehran’s supreme leader warning that clinching a new deal might be insurmountable amid clashing red lines.

The stakes are high for both sides. President Donald Trump wants to curtail Tehran’s potential to produce a nuclear weapon that could trigger a regional nuclear arms race. The Islamic Republic, for its part, wants to be rid of devastating sanctions on its oil-based economy.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will hold a fifth round of talks, through Omani mediators, despite both Washington and Tehran taking a tough stance in public over Iran‘s uranium enrichment.

Although Iran insists the talks are indirect, U.S. officials have said the discussions — including the latest round on May 11 in Oman- have been both “direct and indirect.”

Araqchi, who arrived in Rome with his two deputies, wrote on X: “...Zero nuclear weapons = we Do have a deal. Zero enrichment = we do NOT have a deal. Time to decide.”