ROME (AP) — Iran and the United States prepared for a fifth round of negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program Friday in Rome, with enrichment emerging as the key issue.

By Parisa Hafezi and John Irish DUBAI/PARIS (Reuters) -While rising U.S.-Iran tensions over Tehran's uranium enrichment jeopardize nuclear talks, three Iranian sources said on Tuesday that the clerical leadership lacks a clear fallback plan if efforts to resolve a decades-long dispute collapse.

"The Obama administration invented the category of 'nuclear sanctions’ as an excuse to give the Ayatollah whatever he wanted for a nuclear deal," Sen. Ted Cruz said

Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran will continue its uranium enrichment program regardless of whether a nuclear deal with the US is reached — just hours after the Trump administration slammed any form of enrichment as a “red line.

Oil prices settled lower on Wednesday, after Oman's foreign minister said a fresh round of nuclear talks between Iran and the U.S. would take place later this week.

The secretary of state said that terrorism and weapons sanctions would remain in place if Iran’s other malign activity is not addressed under a nuclear deal

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he does not expect negotiations with the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program to “reach a conclusion” as Washington toughens its conditions for a deal.