ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The fourth round of talks with Iran was never confirmed, a Washington official said on Thursday, after Iran announced that the meeting had been postponed.
“The United States was never confirmed to be participating in a fourth round of talks with Iran, which people had believed were Saturday in Rome,” US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told Rudaw's Diyar Kurda, adding “but we expect another round of talks will take place in the near future.”
Iran said on Thursday that the meeting had been postponed at the request of the Omani foreign minister who is acting as mediator.
The “postponement of the talks was based on the proposal of the Omani foreign minister, and that information about the next possible date will be provided later,” foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei was cited as saying by the state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the delay was due to technical reasons.
“Together with Omani and U.S. interlocutors, we have decided to postpone the 4th round of talks for logistical and technical reasons,” he wrote on X.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi also said the delay was due to “logistical reasons.”
“For logistical reasons we are rescheduling the US Iran meeting provisionally planned for Saturday May 3rd. New dates will be announced when mutually agreed,” he said.
Iranian diplomats were also going to have a technical meeting with representatives of Britain, France and Germany ahead of talks with the US. However, it was cancelled since the US-Iran negotiations were postponed, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told AFP in Washington
Indirect talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US special envoy Steve Witkoff about Iran’s nuclear program and sanctions relief began on April 12 in Oman, mediated by Albusaidi.
Both Iran and the US have reported progress in the talks.
Under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear enrichment program for much-needed relief from crippling sanctions. But the deal began unraveling in 2018 when US President Donald Trump, during his first term, unilaterally withdrew and imposed biting sanctions on the Islamic republic, which in turn began rolling back on its nuclear commitments.
Upon returning to office, Trump in early February restored his “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran, arguing that it is “too close” to a nuclear weapon and seeking a new deal with Tehran.
Tehran has always asserted that its nuclear program is peaceful.
