MUSCAT: The first round of meeting between the United States and Iran were conducted “in a constructive atmosphere and based on mutual respect” and concluded on Saturday evening. 

“The two sides agreed that the talks will continue next week,” the Iran Foreign Ministry said in a short statement.

The ministry added that after over two-and-a-half hours of indirect talks, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle Easy Special Envoy Steve Witkoff “spoke for several minutes in the presence of the Omani  foreign minister while leaving the negotiations venue”.

The talks, the first in years, are being held indirectly in the presence Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Al Busaidi.

Top negotiators from Iran and the U.S. had exchanged the viewpoints of their respective governments with regard to the Iranian nuclear program and the removal of sanctions on the Islamic Republic via Sayyid Badr. 

Following the meeting, Sayyid Badr stated on X: “I am proud to announce that today in Muscat we hosted Iranian Foreign Minister Dr. Seyed Abbas Araghchi and US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and mediated to begin a process of dialogue and negotiations with the shared aim of concluding a fair and binding agreement. I would like to thank my two colleagues for this engagement which took place in a friendly atmosphere conducive to bridging viewpoints and ultimately achieving regional and global peace, security and stability. We will continue to work together and put further efforts to assist in arriving at this goal.”

The Saturday talks came after Trump wrote to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, requesting that negotiations be opened into a deal between Tehran and Washington. Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from a previous agreement with Iran in 2018.