President Trump said Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei should be “very worried” ahead of on-again, off-again diplomatic talks on Friday.
“We’ve had [protesters’] back and, look, their country’s a mess right now because of us,” Trump told NBC news, referring to the administration’s efforts to wipe out Tehran’s nuclear program.
The US will attend Friday talks with Iranian leaders in Oman — not Turkey — after Tehran demanded major changes to the venue and content of the discussion.
The update came after Axios had earlier reported the Trump administration had refused to bend to Tehran’s demand to change the venue, seen as a last-minute tactic to steer the discussion away from its troubling ballistic missile supply and brutality on protesters, citing unnamed US officials.
As the US moved roughly 10 warships to the waters near Iran following Tehran’s brutal crackdown on protesters last month, Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had agreed to meet Iranian officials for de-escalatory talks in Istanbul on Friday.
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Throughout the week, Iran had been attempting to steer the talks to only involve the prospect of a nuclear deal — which they were suddenly amenable to discussing after Trump destroyed their nuclear weapons facilities in strikes last summer as part of Operation Midnight Hammer.
American officials ultimately to bowed to Iran’s demands, accepting the change of venue after unnamed Arab world leaders urged the administration to move forward with the talks.
“They asked us to hold the meeting and to listen to what the Iranians have to say. We told the Arabs that we would hold the meeting if they insist. But we are very skeptical about the chances of success,” a senior US official told Axios.
Earlier on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed doubt over whether the talks would produce meaningful results for the president’s priority issues, but said Witkoff was “ready to go” if Tehran agreed to show up in Turkey as originally planned.
“The United States is prepared to meet with them,” Rubio said, noting that Iran had previously accepted a framework before shifting course. “If the Iranians want to meet, we’re ready. They’ve expressed an interest in meeting and talking.”
“I’m not sure you can reach a deal with these guys, but we’re going to try to find out,” he added.
Rubio said that because the Trump administration does not see mere talks as “concessions,” the US was open to the discussions even after US forces shot down an Iranian drone on Tuesday as it “aggressively approached” the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
Still, Rubio voiced “hope” that internal pressure in Iran could eventually change the radical Islamist regime, noting that the Iranian people are fundamentally different from the clerics who rule them — while signaling the United States is still willing to pursue talks with Tehran.
“I know of no other country where there’s a bigger difference between the people that lead the country and the people who live there,” Rubio said, arguing that the Trump administration’s long-term hope “resides in that.”
