- Tensions rise as the second US aircraft carrier heads for the Middle East.
- Iran holds military exercise in Strait of Hormuz amid tensions.
- IAEA calls on Iran to account for lack of uranium stockpile.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would be involved “indirectly” in high-stakes talks between Iran and the US over Tehran’s nuclear program scheduled for Tuesday in Geneva, adding that he believed Tehran wanted to strike a deal.
“I will be involved in those negotiations, indirectly. And they will be very important,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Tensions are high ahead of the talks, in which the US will deploy a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East. The US military is preparing for the possibility of a sustained military campaign if the talks fail, US officials have told Reuters.
Asked about the prospects for a deal, Trump said Iran has long sought a tough stance in negotiations but learned the consequences of that approach last summer when the United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities.
Trump suggested that this time Tehran was motivated to negotiate.
“I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal,” Trump said.
Washington is pressuring Tehran to give up enrichment
Before the US strikes in June, nuclear talks between the US and Iran had stalled over Washington’s demands that Tehran give up enrichment on its soil, which the US sees as a path to an Iranian nuclear weapon.
“We could have had a deal instead of sending the B-2s in to knock out their nuclear potential. And we had to send the B-2s,” Trump said, referring to the bat-winged US stealth bombers that carried out the bombings.
“I hope they will be more reasonable.”
The remarks contrasted with those of the US president on Friday, when he embraced potential regime change in Iran and lamented decades of failed negotiations.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met with the UN nuclear watchdog on Monday and said in a statement on X that he was in Geneva to “reach a fair and just agreement”.
“What’s not on the table: submission before threats,” Araqchi said.
Question about uranium stockpile
The International Atomic Energy Agency has for months called on Iran to say what happened to its stockpile of 440 kg (970 pounds) of highly enriched uranium after Israeli-American strikes and to allow inspections to resume in full, including at three key sites bombed last June: Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for any attack, which would choke off a fifth of global oil flows and send crude prices soaring.
Iran held a military drill on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital international waterway and oil export route from the Gulf Arab states, which have appealed for diplomacy to end the dispute.
Despite Trump’s comments that Iran is seeking a deal, the talks face major potential roadblocks.
Washington has sought to broaden the scope of negotiations to non-nuclear issues such as Iran’s missile stockpile.
Tehran says it is only willing to discuss curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions and will not accept zero enrichment of uranium. It says its missile capability is off the table.
During a visit to Hungary on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it would be difficult to reach an agreement with Tehran.
“I think there’s an opportunity here to diplomatically reach an agreement … but I don’t want to overstate it either,” Rubio said.
“It’s going to be difficult. It’s been very difficult for anyone to make real deals with Iran because we’re dealing with radical Shia clerics who make theological decisions, not geopolitical ones.”
