WASHINGTON / TEHRAN: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Europe this week for talks on laying the groundwork for a nuclear deal with Iran.

The move comes after it was announced that the next round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States will be held on Saturday in Italy, and not Oman, as originally planned.

“The second round of Iran-US nuclear talks will be held next Saturday in Rome... and the Omani foreign minis-try will be hosting the talks,” Iran’s state TV said.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokeperson compared the venue of the Iran-US nuclear talks to a goalpost on Wednesday, saying moving it might ‘jeopardise any beginning’.

Rubio, Witkoff head to Rome; IAEA chief warns Tehran ‘not far’ from possessing nukes

Ahead of the talks, Tehran reaffirmed its right to enrich uranium, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi saying that this was “not negotiable”.

Responding to a comment made on Tuesday by Witkoff, who said the Islamic Republic must “stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment” to reach a deal with Washington, Araqchi said: “We have heard contradictory statements from Witkoff, but real positions will be made clear at the negotiating table”.

“We are ready to build trust regarding possible concerns over Iran’s enrichment, but the principle of enrichment is not negotiable.”

Last weekend’s US-Iran talks in Oman were described by both sides as positive and constructive.

But US President Donald Trump stirred the pot on Monday when he said he was willing to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities if a deal was not reached.

The next day, he held a meeting with top national security advisers at the White House focused on Iran’s nuclear programme, according to sources familiar with the encounter.

Iran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons. However, hours before arriving in Tehran for talks with the government, the chief of the international nuclear watchdog warned that Iran was “not far” from possessing a nuclear bomb.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told French newspaper Le Monde: “It’s like a puzzle. They have the pieces, and one day they could eventually put them together”.

“There’s still a way to go before they get there. But they’re not far off, that has to be acknowledged,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2025