Cnn
–
President Donald Trump said on Monday that direct talks were underway between the United States and Iran on the Tehran nuclear program.
Speaking alongside the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House, Trump said that a “very large meeting” would take place on Saturday. Trump refused to give more details on the meeting beyond saying that it would be “at the highest level”.
“I think everyone agrees that making an agreement would be preferable to do the evidence,” said Trump.
US officials are expected to sit with Iranian officials to discuss a nuclear agreement directly on Saturday during a meeting organized by Oman, a person familiar with the confirmed plans at CNN later on Monday.
But the source could not say who would participate and at what level. Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is supposed to manage the Iranian file.
Early Tuesday, local time, the semi-official media of Iranian information Tasnim reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will start on Saturday with Witkoff in Oman.
Araghchi told X on Monday that the United States and Iran will hold “high-level indirect” talks to Oman. “It is as much an opportunity as a test. The ball is in the American courtyard,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Direct talks between the United States and Iran could represent a blow for Israel, which has long pleaded to hit Iran’s nuclear installations. Trump indicated a preference for negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program.
Iran had previously rejected the offer of direct negotiations by Trump on its nuclear program, rather offering to engage in indirect talks. Trump’s offer, which he sent to the supreme Iranian chief of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in March, proposed negotiations on a new nuclear agreement, with a two -month -old Ultimatum to reach an agreement, said a familiar source with the content of the letter previously to CNN.
“We do not avoid talks; it is the violation of the promises that has caused us problems so far,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in television remarks last month when he rejected direct negotiations. “They must prove that they can strengthen confidence.”
The Iranian mission to the UN refused to comment when they were asked for direct talks or the meeting that Trump announced.
The last direct levels of higher level between the United States and Iran took place a decade ago in 2015, when the Secretary of State of the United States, John Kerry, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the time, Mohammad Javad Zarif, worked to finalize the Iranian nuclear agreement.
Trump expressed optimism on Monday that talks managed to convince Iran to abandon its nuclear program, which Tehran insists for peaceful ends.
“I hope that these talks will succeed. And I think it would be in the interest of Iran if they succeed. … We hope it will happen,” he said.
“If the talks do not succeed with Iran, I think Iran will be in great danger,” warned Trump.
Israel and the United States have sworn not to let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon.
In December, the United Nations nuclear supervisor, Rafael Grossi, told Reuters that Iran accelerates “spectacularly” its enrichment of uranium up to 60% purity, closer to the level of around 90% grade of weapons. In January, Grosi again warned that Iran “pressed the gas pedal” on its uranium enrichment.
The United States has sent more military assets in the Middle East while the region’s tensions continue to evade.
The Trump administration began to accelerate military action against Houthis supported by Iran in Yemen in mid-March, with air strikes that killed at least 53 people and injured nearly 100 others, according to the Ministry of Health managed by the Houthis.
Last week, CNN said that the total cost of US military action against the Houthis approached $ 1 billion in just under three weeks, even if the attacks had a limited impact on the destruction of the capacity of the terrorist group, three people said on CNN campaign progress.
The military offensive has already used hundreds of millions of dollars in strikes against the group, including long -range JASSM cruise missiles; JSOWS, which are slippery bombs guided by GPS; And Tomahawk missiles said the sources.
This story has been updated with additional information. Alex Marquardt de CNN, Kylie Atwood, Alayna Treene, Michael Rios, Alireza Hajihosseini and Angus Watson contributed.