Iran sees nuclear agreement with US as unlikely - CNN

US-Iran talks appear unlikely to lead to an agreement if the United States continues to insist that Tehran dismantle its uranium enrichment program, CNN cited two Iranian sources as saying.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei this week dismissed US statements forbidding Iranian enrichment, and US secretary of state Marco Rubio gave his most detailed explanation yet about Washington's opposition to Iran's domestic capacity to do so.

Iran’s participation in the fifth round of talks in Rome on Friday is solely to gauge Washington’s latest stance rather than pursue a potential breakthrough, the sources cited by CNN added.

“The media statements and negotiating behavior of the United States has widely disappointed policy-making circles in Tehran,” CNN quoted the two Iranian sources as saying in a joint message.

“From the perspective of decision-makers in Tehran, when the US knows that accepting zero enrichment in Iran is impossible and yet insists on it, it is a sign that the US is fundamentally not seeking an agreement and is using the negotiations as a tool to intensify pressure.”

They added that while some Iranian officials initially hoped for a “win-win” compromise, a consensus has since formed that the Trump administration is pushing the talks toward deadlock.

Asked by a CNN reporter about the sources' comments before publication on Thursday, US state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the resumption of talks was the most important thing.

"It's gossip," she told reporters. "Some people don't have an interest in (talks' success), and that's where you get unnamed sources from.

"What is the story and what matters is that everyone is at the table in Rome."

With the current US position, the sources told CNN, the negotiations are becoming unproductive and may not continue much longer.

The sources said Tehran no longer takes seriously US efforts to distance itself from Israel’s position and believes the American proposals follow the agenda of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has demanded that Iran be barred from all uranium enrichment.