IRAN confirmed on Wednesday that the next round of nuclear talks with the United States will be held this weekend in Rome.

The announcement by Iranian state television came as President Masoud Pezeshkian formally approved the resignation of one of his vice-presidents, who served as Tehran’s key negotiator in its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also arrived in the Islamic Republic on Wednesday. 

His talks may include negotiations over what level of access the IAEA inspectors can get under any proposed deal.

The state TV announcement said Oman would again mediate the talks on Saturday in Rome. Oman’s foreign minister served as an interlocutor between the two sides at talks last weekend in Muscat, the sultanate’s capital.

The stakes of the negotiations couldn’t be higher for the two nations.

US President Donald Trump and the Israelis have repeatedly threatened to unleash air strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear programme.

Iranian officials are increasingly warning that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Mr Grossi arrived in Tehran for meetings with President Pezeshkian and others. 

He met Wednesday night with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, writing on social platform X after the meeting: “Co-operation with [the IAEA] is indispensable to provide credible assurances about the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme at a time when diplomacy is urgently needed.”

Iran’s IRNA news agency described Mr Araghchi as briefing Mr Grossi on the first round of talks with the US, while also urging the IAEA to “adopt a clear and transparent stance regarding threats against Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities.”

The nuclear deal between Iran and the US was scuppered in 2018 when President Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from the accord during his first term in office.