The United States and Iran are set to begin a third round of nuclear talks this weekend, entering what experts describe as a more difficult phase of technical negotiations as Washington lays out stricter conditions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday he was ready to travel to Europe for talks on Tehran's nuclear programme, with France indicating European powers were also ready for dialogue if Tehran showed it was seriously engaged.

MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — Negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program will return Saturday to the secluded sultanate of Oman, where experts on both sides will start hammering out the technical details of a possible deal.