{"id":7719,"date":"2025-05-23T14:22:29","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T21:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/?p=7719"},"modified":"2025-05-23T14:25:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T21:25:37","slug":"iran-us-talks-made-some-but-not-conclusive-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/?p=7719","title":{"rendered":"5th Iran-US talks made \u2018some but not conclusive progress\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Members of the Iranian delegation leave the Omani embassy in Rome after the fifth round of talks.\u00a0Photograph: Guglielmo Mangiapane\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

ROME (AP) \u2014 Iran and the United States made \u201csome but not conclusive progress\u201d Friday in a fifth round of negotiations in Rome over Tehran\u2019s rapidly advancing nuclear program, the talks\u2019 Omani mediator said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The remarks by Badr al-Busaidi suggested the negotiations between the two longtime enemies would continue even as the talks run up against their toughest challenge: Trying to find middle ground between American demands that Iran stop enriching uranium while Tehran insists its program must continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fifth round of Iran US talks have concluded today in Rome with some but not conclusive progress,\u201d al-Busaidi wrote on X. \u201cWe hope to clarify the remaining issues in the coming days, to allow us to proceed towards the common goal of reaching a sustainable and honourable agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi after the talks told Iranian state television that al-Busaidi presented ideas that will be conveyed to the two nations\u2019 capitals \u201cwithout creating any commitments for either side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese negotiations are too complex to be resolved in just two or three meetings,\u201d he said. \u201cI am hopeful that in the next one or two rounds \u2014 especially given the better understanding of the Islamic Republic\u2019s positions \u2014 we can reach solutions that allow the talks to progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cWe are not there yet, but we are not discouraged either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. was again represented in the talks by Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Michael Anton, the State Department\u2019s policy planning director, at the negotiations in the Omani Embassy in Rome\u2019s Camilluccia neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks, said the direct and indirect negotiations \u201ccontinue to be constructive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe talks continue to be constructive \u2014 we made further progress, but there is still work to be done,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enrichment remains key in negotiations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The talks seek to limit Iran\u2019s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic, closing in on half a century of enmity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran\u2019s program if a deal isn\u2019t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIran almost certainly is not producing nuclear weapons, but Iran has undertaken activities in recent years that better position it to produce them, if it chooses to do so,\u201d a new report from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency said. \u201cThese actions reduce the time required to produce sufficient weapons-grade uranium for a first nuclear device to probably less than one week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it likely still would take Iran months to make a working bomb, experts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enrichment remains the key point of contention. Witkoff at one point suggested Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later began saying all Iranian enrichment must stop. That position on the American side has hardened over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about the negotiations, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said \u201cwe believe that we are going to succeed\u201d in the talks and on Washington\u2019s push for no enrichment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Iranians are at that table, so they also understand what our position is, and they continue to go,\u201d Bruce said Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One idea floated so far that might allow Iran to stop enrichment in the Islamic Republic but maintain a supply of uranium could be a consortium in the Mideast backed by regional countries and the U.S. There also are multiple countries and the International Atomic Energy Agency offering low-enriched uranium that can be used for peaceful purposes by countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry has maintained enrichment must continue within the country\u2019s borders and a similar fuel-swap proposal failed to gain traction in negotiations in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Israel has threatened to strike Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities on their own if it feels threatened, further complicating tensions in the Mideast already spiked by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Araghchi warned Thursday that Iran would take \u201cspecial measures\u201d to defend its nuclear facilities if Israel continues to threaten them, while also warning the U.S. it would view it as being complicit in any Israeli attack. Authorities allowed a group of Iranian students to form a human chain Thursday at its underground enrichment site at Fordo, an area with incredibly tight security built into a mountain to defend against possible airstrikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talks come as US pressure on Iran increases<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yet despite the tough talk from Iran, the Islamic Republic needs a deal. Its internal politics are inflamed over the mandatory hijab, or headscarf, with women still ignoring the law on the streets of Tehran. Rumors also persist over the government potentially increasing the cost of subsidized gasoline in the country, which has sparked nationwide protests in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s rial currency plunged to over 1 million to a U.S. dollar in April. The currency has improved with the talks, however, something Tehran hopes will continue as a further collapse in the rial could spark further economic unrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, its self-described \u201cAxis of Resistance\u201d sits in tatters after Iran\u2019s regional allies in the region have faced repeated attacks by Israel during its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad\u2019s government during a rebel advance in December also stripped Iran of a key ally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration also has continued to levy new sanctions on Iran, including this week, which saw the U.S. specifically target any sale of sodium perchlorate to the Islamic Republic. Iran reportedly received that chemical in shipments from China at its Shahid Rajaei port near Bandar Abbas. A major, unexplained explosion there killed dozens and wounded over 1,000 others in April during one round of the talks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROME (AP) \u2014 Iran and the United States made \u201csome but not conclusive progress\u201d Friday in a fifth round of negotiations in Rome over Tehran\u2019s rapidly advancing nuclear program, the talks\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,37,29,33,32],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-7719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-asia-intl","category-featured","category-international","category-iran-domestic","category-usa-intl","tag-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7719"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7725,"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7719\/revisions\/7725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}