A fourth round of talks between the United States and Iran, which had been due to take place in Rome on Saturday, has been postponed and a new date will be set “depending on the U.S. approach,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday.
“U.S. sanctions on Iran during the nuclear talks are not helping the sides to resolve the nuclear dispute through diplomacy,” the official told Reuters.
“Depending on the U.S. approach, the date of the next round of talks will be announced.”
Oman, which mediated earlier sessions of the U.S.-Iran talks, said on Thursday the next round of nuclear discussions provisionally planned for May 3 would be rescheduled for “logistical reasons.”
However, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters that the United States had never confirmed its participation in the fourth round of talks in Rome.
The source said the timing and venue of the next round of talks have yet to be confirmed but are expected in the near future.
Earlier on Thursday, Iran accused the U.S. of “contradictory behavior and provocative statements” after Washington warned Tehran of consequences for backing Yemen’s Houthis and imposed new oil-related sanctions on it in the midst of nuclear talks.
Separately, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran would continue to engage “seriously and resolutely” in result-oriented negotiations with the U.S., state media reported.
President Trump, who has threatened to attack Iran if diplomacy fails, has signaled confidence in clinching a new pact with the Islamic Republic that would block Tehran’s path to a nuclear bomb.
Trump, who has restored “maximum pressure” on Iran and has aimed to drive oil exports to zero on Tehran since February, ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers in 2018 during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.
Iran has far exceeded the 2015 agreement’s curbs on its uranium enrichment since the U.S. exited the pact and European countries share Washington’s concern that Tehran could seek an atomic bomb. Iran says its program is peaceful.
Iran and three European powers — Britain, France and Germany — were scheduled to meet in Rome on Friday to improve strained ties over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program during this time of high-stakes talks between Tehran and Washington, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday.
However, the senior Iranian official who spoke to Reuters said on Thursday that it was now “not certain” whether Friday’s meeting would go ahead.
On Wednesday, Washington imposed sanctions on entities it accused of involvement in the illicit trade of Iranian oil and petrochemicals.
On Thursday, President Trump threatened sanctions on anyone who buys Iranian oil, a warning that came after planned talks over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program were postponed. Trump wrote on social media, “All purchases of Iranian Oil, or Petrochemical products, must stop, NOW!” He said any country or person who buys those products from Iran will not be able to do business with the United States “in any way, shape or form.”
It was unclear how Trump would implement such a ban as he threatened to levy secondary sanctions on nations that import Iranian oil. But his statement risked further escalating tensions with China — Iran’s leading customer — at a time when the relationship is severely strained over the U.S. president’s tariffs.
Based on tanker tracking data, the U.S. Energy Information Administration concluded in a report published last October that “China took nearly 90 percent of Iran’s crude oil and condensate exports in 2023.” Trump has separately placed 145 percent tariffs on China as a way to raise federal revenues and rebalance global trade.
Separately, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Iran that it would face consequences for supporting the Houthis, who control northern Yemen and have attacked ships in the Red Sea in what the group says is solidarity with the Palestinians.
Washington has been bombing the Houthis intensively since mid-March, hitting more than 1,000 targets. Tehran says the Houthis act independently.
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