
Iran and US officials meet in Rome for high-profile talks on Tehran’s nuclear program
CNN
US and Iranian delegations will gather in Rome Saturday for a second round of high-level talks on Tehran’s nuclear program amid tempered optimism about a diplomatic way forward.
US and Iranian delegations will gather in Rome Saturday for a second round of high-level talks on Tehran’s nuclear program amid tempered public optimism about a diplomatic way forward. The discussions in the Italian capital come a week after an initial round was held in Muscat. Although the talks are in Italy, Oman is again expected to serve as mediator between the US team, led by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and the Iranian one, led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. It is a high-stakes engagement, and one that has been preceded by a flurry of diplomatic activity as allies and adversaries alike seek to both understand and potentially influence the aims of the talks. President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested he is not eyeing imminent military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, but the threat still looms. “I’m not in a rush to do it because I think that Iran has a chance to have a great country and to live happily without death,” he said when asked about a New York Times report that he had waved Israel off such military action. “I’d like to see that, that’s my first option. If there’s a second option, I think it would be very bad for Iran,” the US president added.

Roughly 500 Marines based out of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California have been mobilized to respond to the protests in Los Angeles, according to three people familiar with the matter, and will join the thousands of National Guard troops that were activated by President Donald Trump over the weekend without the consent of California’s governor or LA’s mayor.