The latest round of indirect talks between Iran and the United States has ended with a mediator claiming "significant progress", but yielding no clear evidence that either side was willing to concede enough to avoid conflict.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that further technical talks would be held next week in Vienna.

"We reached agreement on some issues, and there are differences regarding some other issues."

Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi, who mediated the talks, said Iranian and US diplomats would consult with their governments before the Vienna talks.

"We have finished the day after significant progress in the negotiation between the United States and Iran," he said in a post on X.

Iran said on Friday that in order to reach a deal, the US will have to drop its "excessive demands".

Without specifying what demands he was referring to, Araghchi said that "success in this path requires seriousness and realism from the other side and avoidance of any miscalculation and excessive demands".

After the talks, the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford arrived off the coast of Haifa, northern Israel, on Friday, Israeli media outlets reported.

Experts warned that the fundamental rift between Tehran and Washington remains unbridgeable, keeping the risk of military confrontation dangerously high.

While Iran has insisted the discussions focus solely on its nuclear program, the US wants Tehran's missile program and alleged support for militant groups in the region curbed.

In talks that stretched into the evening, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner said Iran must destroy its three main nuclear sites — at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan — and deliver all of its remaining enriched uranium to the US, The Wall Street Journal reported.

But just before the talks concluded, Iranian state television reported that Tehran was determined to continue enriching uranium, rejected proposals to transfer it abroad and demanded the lifting of all international sanctions.

Also taking part in Thursday's talks was Rafael Grossi, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which will undertake monitoring and verification duties in Iran in case of any agreement.

In the days leading up to the Geneva talks, US officials increasingly focused on Iran's ballistic missile program. Iran has refused to entertain any talks on its conventional weapons. Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, have repeatedly said they will never develop nuclear weapons.

'Last chance'

Many analysts saw the talks as the last chance for diplomacy.

Omani analyst Khalfan al-Touqi cautioned that any conflict would be far more destructive than the 12-day war in June last year. "The strikes will not be limited, as some expect, but will be far more dangerous, with dire consequences not just for Iran, but for the entire region."

But in Washington, US Vice-President JD Vance said on Thursday there is "no chance" a strike on Iran would lead to protracted war in the region, according to a Washington Post interview.

"The idea that we're going to be in a Middle Eastern war for years with no end in sight — there is no chance that will happen," Vance said, dismissing concerns that Washington could be drawn into a military quagmire in the volatile region should Trump order airstrikes.

Still, some experts believe a possible interim outcome, with both sides reaching a technical understanding, which could reduce imminent confrontation.

"Both sides are aware of the high cost of military escalation and therefore prefer managing tensions through negotiation," said Abdulaziz Alshaabani, a researcher at the Al Riyadh Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Saudi Arabia, noting that a full-scale conflict "remains a less probable outcome".

Agencies contributed to this story.