A senior US official: talks with Iran “positive and constructive”

The United States praised “positive and constructive” talks with Iran at the end of a third round of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program, on Saturday in Amman, according to a senior US official.

The French Press Agency quoted the US official as saying: “This round of direct and indirect talks continued for more than four hours. There is still a lot of work to do, but new progress has made with the aim of reaching an agreement,” thanking our “Omani partners for facilitating these discussions.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqji and the US President’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Wittouf, held talks in Muscat through Omani brokers that lasted about six hours, after a week of a second round in Rome, which the two sides described as construction.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al -Busaidi said that the talks will continue next week and that it was initially decided to hold a “other (last) meeting” on May 3.

Before the meeting of senior negotiators, indirect talks took place at the level of experts in Muscat to set a framework for a possible nuclear agreement.

And official television stated, “The negotiations at the expert level reached the stage of the details of the mutual and specified demands … The two delegations return to their capital for consultation.”

An Iranian official familiar with the talks told Reuters earlier that the negotiations at the level of experts are “difficult, complex and accurate”, without going into details.

For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqji announced that there are “differences” that still exist between the Iranian and American sides after the conclusion of the third round of nuclear talks in Oman.

Araqji told Iranian official television correspondent in Muscat: “There are differences in the main issues and in the details,” adding that “this time negotiations were more serious than before.”

The Iranian minister explained that “experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency may participate in the next round of indirect talks between Iran and America.”