U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would be involved “indirectly” in high-stakes talks between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran’s nuclear program set for Tuesday in Geneva, adding he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal.
“I’ll be involved in those talks, indirectly. And they’ll be very important,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Tensions are soaring ahead of the talks, with the U.S. deploying a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East. The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of a sustained military campaign if the talks do not succeed, U.S. officials have told Reuters.
Asked about the prospects for a deal, Trump said Iran has long sought a tough posture in negotiations but learned the consequences of that approach last summer when the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump suggested Tehran was motivated this time to negotiate.
“I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal,” Trump said.
WASHINGTON PUSHES TEHRAN TO FORGO ENRICHMENT
Prior to the U.S. strikes in June, U.S.-Iran nuclear talks had stalled over Washington’s demand that Tehran forgo enrichment on its soil, which the U.S. views as a pathway to an Iranian nuclear weapon.
“We could have had a deal instead of sending the B-2s in to knock out their nuclear potential. And we had to send the B-2s,” Trump said, referring to the bat-winged U.S. stealth bombers that carried out the bombings.
The remarks contrast with those by the U.S. president on Friday, when he embraced potential regime change, in Iran and lamented decades of failed talks.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met with the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief on Monday, saying in a post on X he was in Geneva to “achieve a fair and equitable deal.”
“What is not on the table: submission before threats,” Araqchi said.
QUESTIONS ABOUT URANIUM STOCKPILE
The International Atomic Energy Agency has been calling on Iran for months to say what happened to its stockpile of 440 kg (970 pounds) of highly enriched uranium following Israeli-U.S. strikes and let inspections fully resume, including in three key sites that were bombed in June last year: Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation against any attack, which would choke a fifth of global oil flows and send crude prices sharply higher.
Iran held a military drill on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital international waterway and oil export route from Gulf Arab states, which have been appealing for diplomacy to end the dispute.
