In a rare diplomatic interface, the United States and Iran will hold direct talks on Saturday, which are expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear program.
President Donald Trump revealed on Monday that Washington will engage “directly” with Iran but did not say anything about the venue of the meeting.
CNN later reported citing a person familiar with the plan that American and Iranian officials will meet in Oman.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said, “We have a very big meeting on Saturday, and we’re dealing with them directly.”
“We’ll see what can happen. I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious,” Trump said, sitting next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited the White House on Monday amid fierce attacks and food blockade on Gaza .
Trump’s remarks appeared to refer to his statement last week, when he indicated that he would “bomb” Iran if it didn’t end its nuclear program.
He had some serious words about Iran if talks with Tehran did not go successfully.
“[That’s] not something that I want to be involved with, or frankly, that Israel wants to be involved with, if they can avoid it,” Trump said about his last week’s threat against Iran.
“We’re going to see if we can avoid it, ” he added
Continuing, Trump underscored the high-stakes for Tehran in Saturday’s talks.
“It’s getting to be very dangerous territory,” Trump said.
“And hopefully those talks will be successful.”
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said Tehran will hold “indirect high-level” talks with the U.S. in Oman on Saturday.
“It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America’s court,” Araghchi said.
