United States President Donald Trump on Monday issued a fresh warning to Iran, saying it would be in "great danger" if nuclear talks aren't successful, admitting that the US will hold direct talks with Iran about its nuclear programme. After meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump, in comments to reporters. said that the talks will start on Saturday. Trump insisted that Tehran couldn't get nuclear weapons.
On being asked if he would commit to military action against Iran should his negotiators be unable to come to terms with Tehran, Trump responded that "Iran is going to be in great danger, and I hate to say it".
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Meanwhile, hours after Trump's confirmation of talks with Tehran, Iran's foreign minister said on Tuesday that Iran and the US will hold "indirect high-level" talks in Oman on Saturday.
"Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks. It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America's court," Abbas Araghchi said on the social media platform X.
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In the Oval Office, Trump said that the talks were happening in an effort to avoid what he called "the obvious", as it appears that he was referring to US or Israeli military strikes against the regime's nuclear facilities.
"We're having direct talks with Iran, and they've started. It’ll go on Saturday. We have a very big meeting, and we'll see what can happen," he told reporters.
"And I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious. And the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with, or, frankly, that Israel wants to be involved with, if they can avoid it.
"So we're going to see if we can avoid it. But it's getting to be very dangerous territory. And hopefully those talks will be successful. And I think it would be in Iran’s best interests if they are successful," he added.
Trump didn't divulge any details, he rather warned Iran. He said, "I think if the talks aren't successful with Iran … Iran is going to be in great danger, and I hate to say it – because they can’t have a nuclear weapon."
"It's not a complicated formula. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Right now we have countries that have nuclear power that shouldn't have it. But I'm sure we'll be able to negotiate out of that too as part of this later on down the line."
"And if the talks aren't successful I actually think it will be a very bad day for Iran," he added.
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What happened to Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action?
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, is a landmark agreement between Iran and the P5+1 (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, and Russia) reached on July 14, 2015. The deal aimed to ensure Iran's nuclear programme would be exclusively peaceful, while providing relief from economic sanctions.
But in 2018, under Trump's organisation withdrew from the JCPOA, citing concerns about Iran's ballistic missile program and regional activities.
(With inputs from agencies)