Iran and the United States have started a second round of negotiations on Saturday over Tehran’s nuclear programme, US and Iranian officials said.

The US official spoke to the Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations at the Omani Embassy in Rome’s Camilluccia neighborhood. Iranian state media also reported the talks starting just before noon as journalists watched outside.

The talks in Italy over Easter weekend will again be led by Steve Witkoff, the Mideast envoy of President Donald Trump ans Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and will again be mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi.

Araghchi met with his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani shortly before the talks started. Tajani posted on X, expressing his hopes about a successful outcome.

That talks are even happening represents a historic moment, given the decades of enmity between the two countries. Trump, in his first term, unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018, setting off years of attacks and negotiations that failed to restore the accord that drastically limited Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.