ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The third round of nuclear talks between the US and Iran were “much more serious,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters following the third round of nuclear talks in Oman’s capital Muscat, Araghchi said that the talks were “much more serious than in the past, and we gradually entered into some more detailed, technical discussions.”

The Iranian Foreign Minister added that “the opposing parties [US] had questions that we answered in writing, we had questions that were presented to them. Overall, the negotiation atmosphere was a completely serious and businesslike atmosphere.”

Prior to Saturday’s talks, there have been two more rounds of discussions around the nuclear subject in April between the two countries, a first meeting in Oman, followed a week later by another round of talks in Rome, with both interlocutors having shone a positive light on both the environment and the trajectory of their talks.

The delegations were this time accompanied by expert-level teams from both sides, with Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi and Kazem Gharibabadi, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Legal and International Affairs joining Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, while the US’ Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff was accompanied by Senior State Department Official Michael Anton.

Talks between Tehran and Washington are set to resume for a fourth round next week.

"Talks will continue next week with a further high level meeting provisionally scheduled for May 3," Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi posted on X.

The US and Western powers seek robust assurances that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons, while Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and that it has no plans to develop nuclear weapons.

US President Donald Trump, during his first term in 2018, walked away from a landmark nuclear deal with Iran, which was introduced three years earlier in 2015 by his predecessor Barack Obama. Known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal provided sanctions relief to Iran in exchange for the placement of curbs on Iran’s nuclear program.