“Zero nuclear weapons = we DO have a deal. Zero enrichment = we do NOT have a deal.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi put the whole dispute into two lines on social media during the spring 2025 talks with Washington.
The two sides never sat across a table in the early rounds. Oman mediated, and by May 23, 2025 the delegations had finished a fifth round in Rome.
Oman, then Rome
The fourth round ended in Oman on Sunday, May 11. It ran more than three hours, according to a Trump administration official who said the US was “encouraged by today’s outcome.” Iranian spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei called it difficult but useful for helping each side “better understand each other’s positions.” Oman was to set the date and place of the next meeting.
That meeting took place in Rome. Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff led their teams, and Oman’s mediator, Badr al-Busaidi, reported “some, but not conclusive, progress.” Araghchi called it “one of the most professional rounds” so far. Al-Busaidi said he hoped to clear up the remaining issues “in the coming days.”
The enrichment wall
Witkoff’s position was blunt: “Iran cannot be allowed to carry out any enrichment.” Earlier he had told Breitbart that Washington wanted “No enrichment. That means dismantlement, no weaponization,” which would mean taking apart facilities at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan. Iran refused. Tehran was enriching uranium to about 60 percent, short of the roughly 90 percent considered weapons-grade, and has raised enrichment steadily since 2019, after Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 and sanctions returned.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US would accept a civilian nuclear energy program without enrichment, and admitted that would “not be easy.” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the US demands as “nonsense” and suggested the talks were unlikely to succeed.
Missiles formed a second obstacle. Iran called its ballistic missile program a “completely separate issue” and refused to discuss it. Tehran also wanted firm guarantees that no future US president would walk away from a deal.
Pressure outside the room
On the Thursday before the Rome round, the State Department imposed new sanctions on Iran’s construction sector. Tehran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson called them “vicious, illegal, and inhumane.” Trump had returned to a “maximum pressure” campaign after taking office in January 2025, including limits on oil exports, particularly to China, and he threatened military action if diplomacy failed. Israel, which opposed the talks, warned it would stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons by any means necessary.
Sources
- Iran sees hope for progress after fifth round of nuclear talks with US (Al Jazeera)
- Iran, US nuclear talks end in Oman, next round to be announced (Arab News)
