WASHINGTON — President Trump announced Monday that his administration would convene direct talks with Iran later this week — saying that he hopes for “a deal” to avoid “the obvious” military alternative.
“We’re having direct talks with Iran,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office while hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“On Saturday we have a very big meeting … doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious.”
Trump added that the US is “dealing with them directly, and maybe a deal’s going to be made — that would be great. it would be really great for Iran.”
The president did not specify members of the American delegation that would attend the talks, but said the meeting would be conducted at close to “the highest level.”
Trump in February ordered strict US enforcement of economic sanctions against Iran — after the Biden administration ended his “maximum pressure” campaign and rebuffed bipartisan demands for sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports.
In his first term, Trump repudiated former President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, saying it did too little to prevent the theocratic regime from building a nuclear weapon, and hailed the action as drying up Tehran’s funds to aid terrorist groups and militant movements across the Middle East.
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