US and Iranian specialists are tasked with developing a nuclear agreement framework following ‘progress’ in negotiations

Iran’s foreign minister announced Saturday that the United States and Iran had reached an agreement to start drafting a framework for a possible nuclear agreement, following discussions that a U.S. official called “very good progress.”

President Donald Trump of the United States has threatened to strike Iran unless it quickly comes to a new agreement that would stop it from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Trump renounced a 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and international powers during his first term in 2018.

Through an Omani official who relayed signals between them, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff engaged in four hours of negotiations in Rome during their second indirect meeting in a week.

Following the discussions, Araqchi spoke on state television, characterizing the interaction as beneficial and carried out in a positive environment.

“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” Araqchi stated.

It was decided that the talks will go on and proceed to the following stage, where expert-level meetings will start in Oman on Wednesday. The specialists will be able to begin creating an agreement’s framework,” he stated.

To “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he said, the top negotiators will reconvene in Oman the following Saturday.

“We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic,” he remarked, echoing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s cautious remarks from last week. We’re being quite cautious. Additionally, there is no justification for excessive pessimism.

Iran claims it is open to discussing certain restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for the easing of international sanctions. Iran refers to its nuclear program as peaceful.

An official from the Trump administration acknowledged that the two parties decided to get together again the following week.

“Today, in Rome over four hours in our second round of talks, we made very good progress in our direct and indirect discussions,” added the official.

“I’m for preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters on Friday. They are unable to possess a nuclear weapon. Iran should be great, affluent, and wonderful, in my opinion.

According to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the situation, Washington’s partner Israel, which opposed the 2015 deal with Iran that Trump renounced in 2018, has not ruled out attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities in the upcoming months.

Iran has been exceeding the 2015 agreement’s uranium enrichment restrictions since 2019, producing significantly more uranium than the West claims is required for a civilian energy program.

Iran’s red lines include never agreeing to destroy its uranium enriching centrifuges, stop enrichment completely, or lower its enriched uranium stockpile to levels negotiated in the 2015 deal, according to a senior Iranian official who spoke about Iran’s negotiating stance on Friday under condition of anonymity.