- Trump confirms US-Iran talks and warns of possible military action.
- The United States deploys warships, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln, off Iran.
- Qatar’s prime minister holds talks in Tehran to help ease regional tensions.
Iran’s top security official said on Saturday that progress had been made toward talks with the United States, even as the Islamic Republic’s army chief warned Washington against launching military strikes.
US President Donald Trump confirmed that the two sides were talking as the threat of an attack loomed large.
Washington has deployed warships led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier off the coast of Iran after Trump threatened to intervene in the wake of Tehran’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.
“Contrary to the hype about the manufactured media war, structural arrangements for the talks are progressing,” said Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
He spoke a day after the Kremlin said he was holding talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that a wider conflict would harm both Iran and the United States.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought and in no way seeks war, and it is firmly convinced that a war will not be in the interest of either Iran, the United States or the region,” he said in a call with Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to the Iranian presidency.
Later on Saturday, Trump confirmed that there was a dialogue between Washington and Tehran.
“(Iran) is talking to us and we’re going to see if we can do something, otherwise we’ll see what happens… we have a big fleet coming out there,” he told Fox News.
“They are negotiating,” he added.
Qatar’s foreign ministry said its prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as foreign minister, held talks in Tehran with Larijani on Saturday to try to “de-escalate tensions in the region”.
Fear of conflict
The arrival of the US flotilla has raised fears of a confrontation with Iran, which has warned that it would respond with missile strikes on US bases, ships and allies – especially Israel – in the event of an attack.
Trump has said he believes Iran will strike a deal on its nuclear and missile programs rather than face US military action.
Tehran has said it is ready for nuclear talks if its missiles and defense capabilities are off the agenda.
Iranian army chief Amir Hatami has warned the US and Israel against any attack, saying his forces were “on full defensive and military readiness”.
“If the enemy makes a mistake, it will undoubtedly endanger its own security, the security of the region and the security of the Zionist regime,” Hatami said, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Iran’s nuclear technology and expertise “cannot be eliminated”, he added.
As tensions mounted, Iranian authorities were quick to deny that several incidents on Saturday were linked to any attack or sabotage.
They included an explosion in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas that local firefighters said was caused by a gas leak.
Fleet exercise
On Friday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would conduct “a two-day live-fire naval exercise” in the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit hub for global energy supplies.
CENTCOM warned the IRGC against “any unsafe and unprofessional behavior in the vicinity of US forces,” drawing a sharp response from Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
“The US military is now trying to dictate how our powerful armed forces should conduct target practice in their own territory,” he wrote on X.
The United States designated the IRGC a terrorist organization in 2019, a move followed by the European Union on Thursday, prompting angry reactions from Tehran.
The US carried out strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites in June as it briefly joined Israel’s 12-day war against its regional foe.
Nationwide protests against the rising cost of living erupted on December 28 before turning into a wider anti-government movement that peaked on January 8 and 9 in what authorities called “riots” blamed on the US and Israel.
‘Serve People’
The official death toll from the authorities is 3,117.
However, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it has confirmed 6,713 deaths, including 137 children.
On Saturday, Pezeshkian called on his government to heed public complaints and “serve the people”.
Some Iranians at the Kapikoy border crossing that separates Iran and Turkey, where just over 100 people crossed on Saturday, said they wanted to be free of the clerical leaders in Tehran.
“They shot us in the back. We were even targeted through our windows,” said Shabnan, using a pseudonym. “Everyone has lost loved ones, friends, neighbors, acquaintances.”
