The US president says Iran initially wanted to meet through intermediaries, but he believes Tehran has changed position.
WASHINGTON, DC — Donald Trump suggests that Iran may agree to direct talks with the US despite intensifying tensions and previous and subsequent threats between the two countries.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the US president appeared optimistic about his prospects for face-to-face diplomacy with Tehran.
“I think it would be better if there was a face-to-face meeting,” he said. “I think it’s going to be faster, and you understand the other side much better than if you were going to experience a mediator. They wanted to use a mediator, and I don’t think that’s necessarily true.”
Last month, Trump sent a letter to Iranian leaders asking them to negotiate to address Iran’s nuclear program. The US president also regularly threatens Iran with military strikes.
Tehran rejected the prospect of a direct meeting with Washington, but said it was open to indirect diplomacy.
It is not clear whether Iran actually changed that stance or whether Trump is speculating about Tehran’s position.
The US administration has accumulated sanctions against Iran, particularly with the aim of suffocating the country’s oil exports to China.
During his first term as president in 2018, Trump made a multilateral deal in which Iran reduced its nuclear program in exchange for lifting international sanctions on the economy.
Tehran claims it does not seek nuclear weapons. Israel, the region’s top US ally, is widely believed to have unproclaimed nuclear weapons.
Since taking office in January, Trump has promised to bring “peace” to global conflicts, but he addressed Iran with a mix of public diplomatic overtures and bold warnings.
“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” he said last week.
Iranian officials respond with their own threats and suggest that if the country is attacked, they will rebel against the US forces and interests in the Middle East.
Iran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last month that Iran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “must know that when you’re facing Iran, no threat will be achieved.”
“The United States and others must know that if they commit malicious acts against the Iranian state, they will be hit seriously.”
However, Tehran’s position in the region appears to have been weakened amid the ongoing war in Gaza and subsequent years.
Israel, for example, killed the top political and military leaders of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iran’s once-significant ally. Iran lost another important partner after an armed opposition group fell after defeating Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December last year.
“I think they’re worried, I think they feel vulnerable and I don’t want them to feel that way,” Trump mentioned Iran on Thursday.
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