US President Donald Trump said that huge warships are heading towards Iran, adding that the United States is currently holding talks with them.
Trump added to reporters at the White House: “We want to reach an agreement with Iran through negotiation,” warning that if an agreement is not reached, “bad things” will happen.
In turn, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stressed the need to continue talks with the United States to ensure national interests, provided that “unreasonable threats and expectations” are avoided.
Bezeshkian said in a post on the “X” website: “Taking into account the demands of friendly regional countries to respond to the US President’s proposal to hold talks, I have directed the Minister of Foreign Affairs to create conditions for fair and just negotiations… in the event that an atmosphere free of threats and unreasonable expectations is available.”
Iranian television had quoted a government source as saying that Pezeshkian had ordered the start of negotiations with the United States within the framework of the nuclear file.
The American news site Axios, citing two informed sources, said that the American envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, on Friday, in Istanbul to discuss a possible nuclear agreement.
Six current and former officials said Iran’s leadership is increasingly concerned that a US strike could weaken its grip on power by pushing already angry Iranians into the streets again, following a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests.
Four current officials familiar with the progress of the discussions said that officials informed Iranian Leader Ali Khamenei during high-level meetings that popular anger over the crackdown that took place last month, the most fatal to the Iranian revolution in 1979, had reached a level where fear was no longer a deterrent.
