Reuters. President Donald Trump said on Monday (April 7) that the United States and Iran were beginning direct talks on Tehran's nuclear program, a surprise announcement after Iranian officials had appeared to rebuff U.S. calls for such negotiations.
Iran had pushed back against Trump's demands that it directly negotiate over its nuclear program or be bombed, though it had initially left the door open to indirect discussions.
During talks with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that talks have started and will go on Saturday.
"And I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable," Trump said. He declined to say where the talks would take place.
Warnings by Trump of military action against Iran had jangled already tense nerves across the Middle East after open warfare in Gaza and Lebanon, military strikes on Yemen, a change of leadership in Syria and Israeli-Iranian exchanges of fire.
Tehran says its nuclear program is wholly for civilian energy purposes. Like U.S. presidents before him, Trump has said that Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.
He told reporters that Saturday's talks with Iran would be at a very high level and he held out the possibility that a deal could be reached. "We have a very big meeting on Saturday and we're dealing with them directly," Trump said.
