President Donald Trump said Monday that U.S. officials will meet directly with Iranian leaders Saturday amid tension over the country’s nuclear ambitions. He threatened if talks don’t go well, “Iran is going to be in great danger.”
Asked if the U.S. military could strike Iranian nuclear facilities, Trump said: “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and if the talks aren’t successful I actually think it will be a very bad day for Iran if that’s the case.” The U.S. last held direct talks with Iran during the Obama administration.
Nour News, a media outlet aligned with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, called Trump’s announcement “a complex and designed psychological operation to influence domestic and international public opinion.” There was no immediate comment from the Iranian government.
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The U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with Iran. Talks between the two nations have been facilitated by an intermediary in the past. This time, the two nations will be talking at “almost the highest level,” Trump said Monday while answering questions during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The last time the two countries held direct negotiations was under President Barack Obama. Iran has rebuffed Trump’s efforts to initiate direct negotiations, saying the country preferred to negotiate through an intermediary.
Hours before Trump’s announcement, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Iran was awaiting a U.S. response to Tehran’s proposal for indirect negotiations. He said the Islamic Republic believed it was making a generous, responsible and honorable offer.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters over the weekend that Tehran wanted to continue indirect negotiations through Oman, a longtime channel for messages between the rival states.
During his first term, Trump abandoned the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by President Barack Obama and reinstated sanctions in an attempt to put maximum pressure on the country. Upon taking office a second time, the president signed an executive order calling for more aggressive measures against Iran.
The order sought more ways to sanction Iran.
“I’m going to sign it, but hopefully, we’re not going to have to use it very much,” Trump said in signing it. “We will see whether or not we can arrange or work out a deal with Iran and everybody can live together.”
President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 7, 2025.
The Pentagon recently extended the deployment of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier strike group and ordered a second flotilla to the Middle East as Trump threatened to bomb Iran if it doesn’t strike a deal over its nuclear weapons capabilities.
“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” Trump told NBC.
Trump recently ordered the U.S. military to strike the Iran-backed Houthis militant group in Yemen.
The Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks on merchant vessels and warships in the Red Sea beginning in November 2023, claiming the attacks were in support of Palestinians amid Israel’s war in Gaza.
After Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel last April, President Joe Biden’s administration sanctioned its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, defense ministry and individuals connected to its military industry. It sanctioned Iran again in October for a ballistic missile attack on Israel and slapped sanctions on the IRGC in December for attempting to meddle in the 2024 presidential election.
A man repaints a famous mural that depicts the US flag with bombs and skulls and reads “Down with the U.S.A.” in central Tehran, Iran on April 1, 2025.
Conservative media commentator and Trump ally Tucker Carlson urged Trump to avoid a military conflict with Iran on Monday.
“Whatever you think of tariffs, it’s clear that now is the worst possible time for the United States to participate in a military strike on Iran. We can’t afford it,” Carlson wrote on X. “Thousands of Americans would die. We’d lose the war that follows. Nothing would be more destructive to our country.”
Contributing: Reuters; Joey Garrison, Cybele Mayes-Osterman, Davis Winkie, Francesca Chambers – USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump threatens Iran with tough response if nuclear talks go bad
