President Donald Trump said on Monday he believes Iran is intentionally delaying a nuclear deal with the United States and that it must abandon any drive for a nuclear weapon or face a possible military strike on Tehran's atomic facilities.
Donald Trump © Mena Today
President Donald Trump said on Monday he believes Iran is intentionally delaying a nuclear deal with the United States and that it must abandon any drive for a nuclear weapon or face a possible military strike on Tehran's atomic facilities.
"I think they're tapping us along," Trump told reporters after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met in Oman on Saturday with a senior Iranian official.
Both Iran and the United States said on Saturday that they held "positive" and "constructive" talks in Oman. A second round is scheduled for Saturday, and a source briefed on the planning said the meeting was likely to be held in Rome.
The source, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said the discussions are aimed at exploring what is possible, including a broad framework of what a potential deal would look like.
"Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon. They cannot have a nuclear weapon," Trump said.
Asked if U.S. options for a response include a military strike on Tehran's nuclear facilities, Trump said: "Of course it does."
Trump said the Iranians need to move fast to avoid a harsh response because "they're fairly close" to developing a nuclear weapon.
The U.S. and Iran held indirect talks during former President Joe Biden's term but they made little, if any progress. The last known direct negotiations between the two governments were under then-President Barack Obama, who spearheaded the 2015 international nuclear deal that Trump later abandoned.
By Gram Slattery and Steve Holland
Russian President Vladimir Putin received Iran’s Supreme National Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei at the Kremlin on Thursday, the president’s office said, as tensions between Tehran and Washington remain high.
Saudi Arabia issued alerts on Thursday warning of potential danger in Yanbu, the kingdom's Red Sea oil export hub, as Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis continue attacks on the kingdom that have opened another front in the US-Israeli war on Iran.
US Vice President JD Vance distanced himself from President Donald Trump's war on Iran on Wednesday, questioning whether it was worth the cost and blaming it for Republicans' election losses that handed Democrats control of both chambers of Congress.
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