Trump aide Witkoff to travel to Rome for Iran talks

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Rome on Friday for a new round of talks with an Iranian delegation over Tehran’s nuclear program, a source briefed on the matter said on Thursday.

At the same time, U.S. President Donald Trump discussed Iran with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call on Thursday in the aftermath of the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington late on Wednesday.

Trump believes negotiations with Iran are “moving in the right direction,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in providing details of the Trump-Netanyahu call.

The Rome talks will be the fifth such round of U.S.-Iranian discussions.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Witkoff will be joined by a top State Department official, Michael Anton, who represented the United States at a prior session with Iran.

“Discussions are expected to be both direct and indirect, as in previous rounds,” the source said.

Witkoff said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that any deal between the United States and Iran must include an agreement not to enrich uranium, a comment that drew criticism from Tehran.

While Witkoff was reiterating Trump’s position about uranium enrichment, Iran’s response was evidence that the two sides have a long way to go to reach any agreement over Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said U.S. demands that Tehran stop enriching uranium are “excessive and outrageous,” state media reported on Tuesday, voicing doubts whether talks on a new nuclear deal will succeed.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Trevor Hunnicutt and Sandra Maler)