Al Jazeera :
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on social media late on Monday that “indirect” talks would take place on Saturday. Iranian state media later reported that Araghchi would meet the US envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, with Oman acting as a mediator.
Earlier, Trump had announced the start of “direct” talks, while maintaining threatening rhetoric suggesting the US could attack Iran. Tehran had earlier dismissed Washington’s calls for the talks.
“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,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“And I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable,” he added, without providing further details.
Trump also warned that Iran would be in “great danger” if diplomatic efforts to curb its nuclear ambitions failed, adding that Tehran “can’t have nuclear weapons”.
Earlier this month, Trump told NBC News: “If they [Iran] don’t make a deal, there will be bombing.”
He added that the bombing would be “the likes of which they have never seen before”.
Trump’s announcement of direct talks with Tehran would not be to Netanyahu’s “liking”, as the Israeli leader has long wanted to simply bomb Iran, said Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst.
“Trump has wanted a deal for a long time,” Bishara said. However, “Netanyahu certainly thinks Iran’s defences have been weakened by last year’s Israeli air strikes on Iran. And he sees this as a great opportunity, with US support, for Israel to finish off Iran.”
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“In reality, Trump doesn’t want to enter a war with Iran while he is in the midst of trade wars with the rest of the world,” Bishara added.
Trump said last month in a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that he hoped there would be a negotiation between the countries.
Over the weekend, Araghchi had described the prospect of direct talks as “meaningless”.
Tehran, which maintains that it is not seeking a nuclear weapon, has rejected Washington’s push to enter direct negotiations but has previously said it is open to indirect diplomacy.
Iranian media reported on Tuesday that Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi will act as a mediator in the talks. Oman has long acted as a communication channel between the US and Iran.
It also played a crucial role in the signing of the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers which placed strict curbs on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump withdrew from that deal in 2018.
