Trump says we start direct negotiations with Iran about its nuclear program
U.S. and Iran are in direct negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday.
But to show the difficult path to any agreement between the two geopolitical enemies, Trump issued a clear warning that if the negotiations fail, “Iran will be in great danger.”
Iran did not immediately formally respond to Trump’s remarks. In recent weeks, it has opposed Trump’s demand that it negotiates directly on its nuclear program or is bombed, but recently it has opened the door to indirect discussions.
“We are having direct conversations with Iran. They will start on Saturday. We will see what will happen,” Trump told Oval Office reporters during a talk with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“And I think it’s desirable for everyone to agree to a deal,” Trump said. Trump said Saturday’s talks with Iran would be high, but refused to elaborate. He also declined to say where the talks will be held, but an agreement may still be reached.
Years since the direct conversation
The United States and Iran held indirect negotiations during Joe Biden’s presidency, but they made little progress. The last known direct negotiation between the two administrations was under President Barack Obama, who led the 2015 international nuclear agreement that Trump later abandoned.
Trump said he hopes Iran’s nuclear program will reach a deal, not a military confrontation, and he wrote to top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on March 7 and presented talks. Iranian officials said at the time that Tehran would not be bullied to negotiate.
“Iran cannot have nuclear weapons, and if the negotiations are not successful, I actually think it’s a very bad day for Iran,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday.
Iran did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the UN mission.
Without explicit approval from Carmenei, they would say in February that the negotiations with the United States were “not smart, wise or glorious.”
Trump’s announcement comes after Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Iran is awaiting a response to the U.S. proposal for indirect negotiations to Tehran. He said the Islamic Republic considers it a generous, responsible and glorious proposal.
Tehran wants to negotiate indirectly through Aman, a long-term channel for information between rival countries, a senior Iranian official told Reuters over the weekend.
The Iranian official spoke on condition of anonymity and said there could be about two months of trading windows, citing fears that Iran’s long-term enemy, Israel, might launch its own attacks if the conversation took longer.
We exited the transaction
During his first term, Trump pulled the U.S. from a 2015 agreement between Iran and the world’s powers aimed at curbing Iran’s sensitive nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump has also reimposed full sanctions.
Since then, Iran has exceeded the agreement’s limit on uranium enrichment.
Western powers accuse Iran of having a secret agenda to develop nuclear weapons capabilities by enriching uranium to high levels of fission purity, which is more than they say, and that is reasonable for civilian atomic energy programs.
Tehran said its nuclear program is for civilian energy purposes only.
The White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for detailed requests.
This shift was a time of instability for the “axis of resistance” in the Tehran region, which has established a huge cost of opposing Israel and the U.S. influence for decades. Since the Palestinian group’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the axis has been severely weakened, causing the Middle East to fall into conflict.
Hamas in Gaza has been hammered by Israel in Hamas in Lebanon and Hezbollah in Lebanon, while Houthi movement in Yemen has been targeted by U.S. air strikes since last month. Last year, Israel seriously damaged Iran’s air defense.
Another key ally of Iran further weakens Iran’s influence due to the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
