US President Donald Trump warned Iran’s supreme leader should be “very worried,” as either side put together for his or her first formal negotiations for the reason that US bombed Tehran’s nuclear program final yr.
Tensions between the 2 nations have escalated sharply in current weeks following a lethal crackdown by Iranian safety forces on nationwide anti-government protesters that prompted Trump to ship a US army “armada” to the area and threaten to launch strikes.
Iran’s army has warned that any assault would be met with a right away and decisive response, together with strikes on US forces and belongings within the area.
“I would say he (supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) should be very worried. Yeah, he should be,” Trump informed NBC News in an interview on Wednesday.
Trump, who first threatened strikes in opposition to Iran throughout its clampdown on avenue protests final month, mentioned his actions have supported the demonstrators, regardless of stopping in need of direct motion.
The high-stakes talks are scheduled to happen on Friday within the Omani capital Muscat and can contain Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff, based on Iran’s state-affiliated Tasnim information company.
But either side seem to have completely different agendas.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that the Trump administration desires negotiations to deal with not solely Iran’s nuclear program, but additionally “the range of their ballistic missiles,” “their sponsorship of terrorist organizations across the region,” and “the treatment of their own people.”
Citing Iran’s overseas ministry, Tasnim has reported negotiations will be restricted to Iran’s nuclear program and the lifting of sanctions because the nation’s “primary demand.”
Iran and the US held a number of rounds of oblique nuclear talks in April and May 2025 earlier than a shock mid-June Israeli strike on Iran led to the cancellation of additional talks. That was adopted days later by the US strike on Iran, which successfully ended the method.
“If we didn’t take out that nuclear, we wouldn’t have peace in the Middle East, because the Arab countries could have never done that,” Trump mentioned within the NBC News interview.
“They were very, very afraid of Iran. They’re not afraid of Iran anymore,” he mentioned.
Trump additionally mentioned he had been knowledgeable that Iran was trying to revive its nuclear program at various websites.
“They tried to go back to the site. They weren’t even able to get near it,” he mentioned.
“There was total obliteration. But they were thinking about starting a new site in a different part of the country. We found out about it. I said, you do that, we’re going to do bad things to you.”
As tensions simmer, neighboring nations have been mediating between the 2 sides to avert a struggle, noting that any battle may unfold and destabilize the Middle East.
On Tuesday, a US plane provider shot down an Iranian drone that “aggressively approached” the ship within the Arabian Sea, based on the US army.
Hours later, two gunboats operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps approached a US-flagged tanker within the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to board and seize the ship, mentioned Capt. Tim Hawkins, spokesperson for US Central Command.
Trump first threatened potential army motion final month as mass anti-government protests swept Iran and a virtually three-week nationwide internet blackout took maintain, with Iranians shouting slogans in opposition to the ruling theocratic regime.
Internet connectivity has been partially restored, however specialists are warning that, even on the opposite aspect of the digital blackout, the outlook for Iranian web entry stays bleak.