US, Iran set to meet in Rome for next round of nuclear talks

The US and Iran are expected to hold their second round of nuclear talks on Saturday in Rome, according to people familiar with the matter, following their first meeting in years in Oman over the weekend.

The talks are set to coincide with a visit to Italy by US Vice-President JD Vance, though it’s unclear if he’ll be involved in them, the people said.

Both Iran and the US described Saturday’s meeting in the Omani capital of Muscat - headed by Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s main Middle East envoy, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi - as constructive. They agreed to meet a week later in a sign of easing tension after months of escalating rhetoric and Trump threatening to bomb Iran if it didn’t agree to a deal.

Witkoff told Araghchi he had instructions from Trump “to resolve our two nations’ differences through dialogue and diplomacy, if that is possible.”

Iran’s currency and stocks rallied on Sunday in response to the sides saying they’d hold further talks.

As diplomatic momentum builds around the negotiations, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi, is expected to visit Tehran on Wednesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Later in the week Araghchi is also set to visit Moscow to continue parallel nuclear talks with Russian officials, the ministry said in an earlier statement.

Trump has made it a priority to curb Iran’s nuclear programme and ensure it never builds an atomic weapon, something Tehran has always insisted it doesn’t want to do.

The US leader has ratcheted up sanctions on Iran, including on its oil industry, as part of his “maximum pressure” strategy. His administration’s been working with Israel on potential attack scenarios in case diplomacy fails, Bloomberg reported last week. That’s included sending more American bombers to a US base on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.

Trump’s said he’s optimistic diplomacy can prevail, though he doesn’t want talks to drag on beyond a few months. Vance is one of the White House’s more dovish members regarding military action against Iran, and in October said a war with the Islamic Republic would be “massively expensive” and a “huge distraction of resources.”

Italy has long served as an intermediary for Middle Eastern affairs and has maintained good relations with Iran, Israel and Arab countries, as well as the US. Last year, it hosted a meeting of Egyptian, Israeli, Qatari and US officials to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza.

The stakes for Italian diplomacy could hardly be higher this week. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is set to meet Trump in the US on Thursday to discuss trade and security. She will also speak to Vance in Rome on Friday, according to her office, just ahead of the US-Iran talks

The US State Department and Iranian embassy in Rome didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Axios earlier reported the planned meeting in Rome.