Iran and the United States began a second round of negotiations Saturday over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program in Rome, U.S. and Iranian officials said. The U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations at the Omani Embassy in Rome’s Camilluccia neighborhood.

A U.S.-Saudi nuclear deal would reverse Riyadh’s drift toward China, undercutting Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative and its growing influence in the Middle East.