US President Donald Trump on Sunday indicated there was progress with Iran on Tehran’s nuclear programme, and hinted an announcement could come in the “next two days.” “We’ve had some very, very good talks with Iran. And I don’t know if I’ll be telling you anything good or bad over the next two days, but I have a feeling I might be telling you something good,” news agency AFP quoted Trump as saying in northern New Jersey, where he spent most of the weekend.“We’ve had some real progress, serious progress. Let’s see what happens, but I think we could have some good news on the Iran front,” he said.Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Michael Anton, the US State Department’s policy planning director, represented the United States at the latest fifth round of talks with Iran, held on Saturday and Sunday, at the Omani embassy in Rome.The Oman-mediated talks, which began in April, are the highest-level contact between the two sides since Washington quit a landmark 2015 nuclear accord during Trump’s first term.Since returning to office in January, he has revived his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, backing talks but warning of “military action” if diplomacy fails.However, Tehran wants a new deal to ease the sanctions which have battered its economy.Following the latest round, Iranian foreign minister and lead negotiator Abbas Araghchi downplayed the progress, stressing that “the negotiations are too complicated to be resolved in two or three meetings.”This was echoed by Oman’s foreign minister, who said the latest talks concluded “with some but not conclusive progress.”The talks came ahead of a June meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), during which Iran’s nuclear activities will be reviewed.
