Iran and US hold a fifth round of nuclear negotiations in Rome with enrichment a key issue

ROME AP Iran and the United States began a fifth round of negotiations over Tehran s rapidly advancing nuclear initiative in Rome on Friday with enrichment emerging as the key issue U S leaders up to President Donald Trump insist Iran cannot continue to enrich uranium at all in any deal that could see sanctions lifted on Tehran s struggling economic system Iran s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi early Friday insisted online that no enrichment would mean we do NOT have a deal Figuring out the path to a deal is not rocket science Araghchi wrote on the social platform X Time to decide The U S is again represented in the talks by Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Michael Anton the State Department s protocol planning director Oman s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi is mediating the negotiations as the sultanate on the Arabian Peninsula has been a trusted interlocutor by both Tehran and Washington in the talks Multiple convoys arrived at the Omani Embassy in Rome s Camilluccia neighborhood just after p m The embassy previously served as the site of another round of talks Iranian media mentioned the talks started at p m After about hours of the talks a convoy left the embassy compound Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei at the embassy in Rome reported state television that it was Witkoff leaving because he needed to catch a flight Baghaei described the talks as continuing without Witkoff in a sane and calm atmosphere Enrichment remains key in negotiations The talks seek to limit Iran s nuclear project in exchange for the lifting of selected of the crushing economic sanctions the U S has imposed on the Islamic Republic closing in on half a century of enmity Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran s plan if a deal isn t reached Iranian representatives increasingly warn they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels Iran almost certainly is not producing nuclear weapons but Iran has undertaken programs in up-to-date years that better position it to produce them if it chooses to do so a new review from the U S Defense Intelligence Agency noted These actions reduce the time required to produce sufficient weapons-grade uranium for a first nuclear device to perhaps less than one week However it likely still would take Iran months to make a working bomb experts say Enrichment remains the key point of contention Witkoff at one point suggested Iran could enrich uranium at then later began saying all Iranian enrichment must stop That position on the American side has hardened over time Appealed about the negotiations State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce reported we believe that we are going to succeed in the talks and on Washington s push for no enrichment The Iranians are at that table so they also understand what our position is and they continue to go Bruce announced Thursday One idea floated so far that might allow Iran to stop enrichment in the Islamic Republic but maintain a supply of uranium could be a consortium in the Mideast backed by regional countries and the U S There also are multiple countries and the International Atomic Resource Agency offering low-enriched uranium that can be used for peaceful purposes by countries However Iran s Foreign Ministry has maintained enrichment must continue within the country s borders and a similar fuel-swap proposal failed to gain traction in negotiations in Meanwhile Israel has threatened to strike Iran s nuclear facilities on their own if it feels threatened further complicating tensions in the Mideast already spiked by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip Araghchi warned Thursday that Iran would take special measures to defend its nuclear facilities if Israel continues to threaten them while also warning the U S it would view it as being complicit in any Israeli attack Officers allowed a group of Iranian students to form a human chain Thursday at its underground enrichment site at Fordo an area with incredibly tight protection built into a mountain to defend against manageable airstrikes Talks come as US pressure on Iran increases Yet despite the tough talk from Iran the Islamic Republic requirements a deal Its internal politics are inflamed over the mandatory hijab or headscarf with women still ignoring the law on the streets of Tehran Rumors also persist over the cabinet potentially increasing the cost of subsidized gasoline in the country which has sparked nationwide protests in the past Iran s rial currency plunged to over million to a U S dollar in April The currency has improved with the talks however something Tehran hopes will continue as a further collapse in the rial could spark further economic unrest Meanwhile its self-described Axis of Resistance sits in tatters after Iran s regional allies in the region have faced repeated attacks by Israel during its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip The collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad s authorities during a rebel advance in December also stripped Iran of a key ally The Trump administration also has continued to levy new sanctions on Iran including this week which saw the U S specifically target any sale of sodium perchlorate to the Islamic Republic Iran reportedly received that chemical in shipments from China at its Shahid Rajaei port near Bandar Abbas A major unexplained explosion there killed dozens and wounded over others in April during one round of the talks