US President Donald Trump says Washington had held “very good talks” on Iran, after the two sides held an indirect dialogue in Oman that could avert an escalation of tensions.
“We likewise had very good talks on Iran, Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly,” Trump says to reporters on board Air Force One en route to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for the weekend.
“We’re going to meet again early next week,” he adds.
Trump imposes secondary tariffs on countries that import from Iran
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order today imposing secondary tariffs on any country that imports goods from Iran, the White House says.
The move comes after US and Iranian officials met to renew efforts for a deal on the latter’s nuclear program.
Diplomat: At talks with US, Iran refuses to end enrichment; missile capabilities not discussed
Iran rejected calls by the United States to halt uranium enrichment on its territory during negotiations in Oman on Friday, as efforts to resolve the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program resumed.
A regional diplomat briefed by Tehran told Reuters Friday that while the Islamic Republic would not budge on its right to enrich uranium inside Iran, it was willing to discuss the “level and purity” of enrichment or a regional consortium.
The diplomat added that Tehran believed the US negotiators “seemed to understand Iran’s stance on the enrichment … and they showed flexibility about Tehran’s demands.”
He added that Iran’s missile capabilities were not discussed during the talks in Muscat.
Iranian and US officials told the Axios news site that they expect further talks in the coming days.
US negotiators told their Iranian counterparts that they expect Tehran to come to the next meeting with a tangible and significant concession related to the nuclear file, Channel 12 reported.
The talks included an in-person meeting between US President Donald Trump’s top aides Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi, Channel 12 reported, citing two sources familiar.
The rest of the talks were held indirectly, with Oman mediating.
CENTCOM Commander Gen. Brad Cooper also joined the talks, outraging the Iranian delegation, in a move possibly aimed at intimidating Tehran, Channel 12 reported. The Iranians reportedly likened it to “conducting negotiations with a gun on the table.”
The network indicated the US will likely take additional steps to boost its military presence in the region on Saturday, improving Washington’s posture ahead of a potential strike if the talks fail.
Channel 12 cited an unnamed senior Israeli official who warned Iran against targeting the Jewish state, saying the response to such an attack would be “Operation Rising Lion on steroids,” referring to the name Israel gave to its June 2025 strikes on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which also saw the IDF decimate Tehran’s air defenses.
The network cited another Israeli official who speculated that Friday’s talks between the US and Iran in Oman will not lead to an agreement, as the gaps between the sides are too large.
Iran has been refusing requests by the IAEA to inspect the sites bombed in the June war, raising the concerns of nonproliferation experts. Even before that, Iran has restricted IAEA inspections since Trump’s decision in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw America from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Amid the talks, the US has completed the initial phase of its weapons buildup in the region and is expected to complete the second phase in the coming weeks, with all forces in place, Channel 12 reported.
The US Central Command also published new footage of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which arrived in the region last week.
“The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, accompanied by two military supply ships, and two US Coast Guard cutters, sailed together in the Arabian Sea today as aircraft from Carrier Air Wing 9 flew overhead,” CENTCOM wrote on X.
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