Fourth round of indirect Iran-US talks kicks off in Oman
Iran Press TV
Sunday, 11 May 2025 12:45 PM
Iran and the United States have started the fourth round of indirect talks in the Omani capital of Muscat, focusing on Iran's nuclear program and the removal of sanctions against Tehran.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US President Donald Trump's regional envoy Steve Witkoff are leading the negotiating teams. The talks are mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi.
Like the previous rounds, the Iranian team is comprised of technical experts in legal, nuclear, and economic fields.
The talks follow previous rounds that began on April 12, marking the highest-level contact between Iran and the US since Washington withdrew from a landmark nuclear agreement in 2018 and re-imposed tough economic sanctions on Tehran.
The foreign ministers of Iran and Oman met on Sunday ahead of the latest round of negotiations.
During the meeting, Araghchi praised the efforts of Albusaidi and the Omani government in hosting the talks and playing a facilitating role in the process.
The senior Iranian diplomat briefed his Omani counterpart on the most significant topics of discussion with the US and reiterated the Islamic Republic's principled stance.
Albusaidi, in turn, reaffirmed Oman's commitment to facilitating the negotiations. He outlined the planned arrangements and measures for conducting this round of talks.
Speaking on Sunday before departing for Oman, Araghchi once again reiterated that uranium enrichment was a "non-negotiable" right for Iran.
"Uranium enrichment capability is a source of pride and accomplishment for the Iranian nation, achieved at a great cost, including the blood of our nuclear scientists; this achievement is unequivocally non-negotiable," the foreign minister said.
The comments came after Witkoff, in the latest contradictory remarks by a US official, said that Iran needed to end its uranium enrichment program.
In the lead-up to the Muscat talks on Sunday, Witkoff called for the complete "dismantlement" of Iran's nuclear program, including key sites in Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials have suggested Iran must import enriched uranium.
Iran insists on its inalienable right to use nuclear energy: Baghaei
As the talks were underway, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran insists on its lawful nuclear rights under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) while at the same time is ready to continue the path of "diplomatic engagement."
"Iran is firmly determined to pursue its inalienable lawful rights for peaceful uses of nuclear energy under NPT while fully prepared to continue its diplomatic engagement to ensure the already demonstrated 'peaceful nature' of its nuclear program," Baghaei said in a post on his X account on Sunday.
He pointed to the latest round of talks in Muscat and emphasized Tehran's determination to work for the termination of sanctions.
"We are equally resolved to work for termination of unlawful and inhuman sanctions that have long been imposed on our people," the Iranian spokesperson pointed out.
Mediated by Oman, Iran and the US have held three rounds of talks in Muscat and the Italian capital of Rome on April 12, 19, and 26 to reach a deal on Iran's nuclear program and the removal of sanctions on Tehran.
Both parties have so far expressed satisfaction with the way the negotiations have been moving on, commending the talks as "positive" and "moving forward."
Speaking in an interview on Friday, the top Iranian negotiator emphasized that the Tehran-Washington talks were progressing.
"It is important that we are moving forward in a way that will gradually lead us into the details," Araghchi explained.
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