President Donald Trump has sent a fresh warning to Iran’s leaders as the US military builds up in the region, the latest sign that diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran could be breaking down.
“I would say he should be very worried, yes. He should be,” Trump said. (Reuters)”I would say he should be very worried, yes. He should be,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News on Wednesday when asked about Iran’s supreme leader. “You know, they’re negotiating with us.”
Trump’s comments came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was open to upcoming talks with Iran and that a position was being “worked through”, but insisted talks could not be limited to the nuclear issue.
Amid confusion over where the talks would take place and what topics would be covered, Rubio said Wednesday that the US side thought an agreement had been reached for Friday’s meeting in Turkey.
“As far as negotiations go, you know, I think the Iranians agreed to a certain format — for whatever reason, it’s changed in their system,” Rubio told reporters. “We’ll see if we can get back to the right place. But the United States is ready to meet them.”
Iran has asked for talks – which follow Trump’s repeated threats to hit the country if a deal is not agreed – to shift from Turkey to Oman and exclude the participation of regional countries, people familiar with the matter said earlier. The White House has not commented on any requests of that nature.
Iran also wants to keep the talks limited to its nuclear program, but Rubio said “they have to include some issues for the talks to actually be meaningful.” That includes Tehran’s ballistic-missile program, its sponsorship of regional militant groups and its treatment of its people, Rubio said, adding that White House Middle East envoy Steve Wittkoff is ready and willing to attend a summit.
Contrasting positions on negotiating parameters could raise concerns about whether the two sides can realistically bridge major differences at a time of heightened tensions in the oil-rich region. The United States and Iran have long been at odds over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, but the rift has grown — especially after authorities in Tehran crushed a recent wave of protests, leaving thousands dead.
On Tuesday, a US jet shot down an Iranian drone after it “aggressively” approached the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, the US military and government said. Oil prices have risen in the conflict.
Brent rose 0.6% to around $67.70 a barrel on Wednesday. It’s up 11% this year, in large part due to the prospect of war.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Wednesday that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi and Wittkoff would travel to Muscat for talks, which would be “limited to the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions on Iran.”
The semi-official Iranian Students News Agency said the “main issue” would be Iran’s nuclear program and that Iran’s most pressing issue would be sanctions relief.
Iran has previously pushed back against talks with the United States over its conventional missile capabilities, but the country is more vulnerable than in previous rounds due to an unprecedented level of dissent at home.
Talks between Tehran and Washington collapsed after Israel launched airstrikes on Iran in June last year.
Aragchi said last week that Iran’s missiles would “never” be negotiable, and that Iranian President Massoud Pezheshkian had expressly tasked him with negotiating “within the framework of the nuclear deal.” It refers specifically to Iran’s nuclear program, after Israel and the United States launched airstrikes in June after the Islamic Republic blocked international monitors from accessing some of its nuclear facilities.
The talks will mark the first public meeting between Iranian and US officials since Tehran violently cracked down on mass protests in Iran last month.
