"The venue for the second round of talks is Rome. Wherever the venue for the talks is, Oman is the mediator and intermediary," Iran's deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Kazem Gharibabadi told state TV in an interview.
"The reason for changing the venue for the talks was the request of the other side, and we were not sensitive about it," he added, after the first talks were held in Omani capital Muscat.
Gharibabadi appeared to reject the White House's demand yesterday that Iran terminate its nuclear program entirely, saying: "The shutdown of Iran’s enrichment or nuclear industry is not even up for discussion."
"The first round was aimed at assessing whether both sides are serious about reaching an agreement. If the frameworks are agreed upon, the drafting process will begin. Agreement on frameworks is difficult but not impossible—it depends on the other side."
He said the two sides "didn’t address key points in the first round of negotiations, which is why it lasted less than three hours."
"The second round of negotiations will focus on the frameworks of the issues," Gharibabadi continued. "We told the other side we are not looking to waste time."
"If the other side enters the second round like they did in Muscat, reaching an agreement won’t take long; but for now, it’s too soon to judge," adding that it was too soon to include the UN nuclear watchdog in talks.
