ISTANBUL

Oman announced on Thursday that the fourth round of US-Iran nuclear talks, scheduled for Saturday in Rome, would be postponed due to logistical reasons.

In a post on his X account, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi stated: “For logistical reasons we are rescheduling the US Iran meeting provisionally planned for Saturday May 3rd.”

He added that “new dates will be announced when mutually agreed.”

Washington nor Tehran have commented on the postponement, but the delay comes amid a sharp uptick in Iranian criticism of US policy.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei issued a statement Thursday that warned against “contradictory and behavior and provocative statements” from the US.

Baghaei denounced recent US sanctions on Tehran as “hostile, unlawful, and inhumane against the Iranian people.”

He described the sanctions as “violations of the fundamental principles and rules of international law, including the norms of human rights,” citing sanctions on Iranians, non-Iranians and companies as “a clear indication of the persistent lawlessness of American policymakers and their infringement upon the rights and interests of other nations.”

Oman and Italy have hosted three rounds of indirect US–Iran talks since April 12 to revive or renegotiate a nuclear agreement.

The upcoming round of negotiations is the fourth high-level meeting between the two countries since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the historic nuclear agreement in 2018 during his first presidential term, which stipulated the easing of international sanctions on Iran in exchange for imposing restrictions on its nuclear program.

Trump said the original agreement was “flawed,” arguing it failed to address Iran's ballistic missile program and regional behavior. He imposed his “maximum pressure” campaign to force a better deal.

Tehran complied with the deal for a year before gradually rolling back its commitments.​​​​​​​