Lara Jakes has reported on U.S. diplomatic talks with Iran for more than a decade. Farnaz Fassihi reports on the U.N., and Maggie Haberman on the White House.

Preliminary diplomatic talks between American and Iranian officials in Oman over Tehran’s nuclear program ended on Saturday with a handshake and with both sides describing them as constructive.

The next round of discussions, set for next Saturday, according to the officials, could lead to the first official face-to-face negotiations between the two countries under President Trump since he withdrew the United States from a landmark nuclear accord seven years ago.

Mr. Trump has often been bellicose about Iran, and has said that the country should not be allowed to acquire a nuclear bomb. The talks reflect his threats-and-wooing approach to foreign conflicts, one in which the possibility of a deal is almost always on the table and drawn-out military conflict is unappealing.

For Iran, the first round of talks with the United States went as well as could be expected. Iran can claim that two of its main conditions for taking the negotiations to the next level were achieved: Washington kept the focus on Iran’s nuclear program — at least for now — and did not mention the dismantling of its nuclear facilities or its regional policy with proxy militant groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

The talks were, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the matter, broad and aimed at maintaining a dialogue.

And so Mr. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who is leading the discussions, did not suggest that Iran abandon its enrichment program entirely, the official said. Instead, the focus was on the country not weaponizing its existing material.

Mr. Witkoff has almost no foreign policy experience. But as a yearslong friend of Mr. Trump’s, he has the president’s trust, and the ability to be seen as speaking for him in a way other U.S. officials do not. He was joined this weekend by Ana Escrogima, the U.S. ambassador to Oman, for the preliminary talks with Abbas Araghchi, the Iran foreign minister, according to another White House official. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was not involved in Saturday’s talks.

In a statement, the official said that Mr. Witkoff had underscored to Mr. Araghchi that he had instructions from Mr. Trump to resolve the two nations’ differences through dialogue and diplomacy, if possible.

Mr. Araghchi and the White House official both said the talks between the two teams would resume next Saturday.

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