On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister bluntly stated that whether the despotic regime in Iran makes a nuclear deal with the United States or not, Iran will continue enriching uranium.
Seyed Abbas Araghchi <a href="https://x.com/araghchi/status/1924143188341653975?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1924143188341653975%7Ctwgr%5Edc42ba01d925128c26ebf7241cb4cb02c171b908%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fworld%2Firan-foreign-minister-vows-nuclear-enrichment-continue-with-without-deal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a>, “Special Interest groups; malign actors which set the agendas of at least previous Administrations,” should be ignored before adding, “we are ready for a serious conversation to achieve a solution that will forever ensure that outcome. Enrichment in Iran, however, will continue with or without a deal.”
In January 2024, the Arms Control Association <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2024-02/news/iran-accelerates-highly-enriched-uranium-production" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> that Iran had accelerated its production of uranium enriched to near-weapons grade levels, pointing out that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had estimated Iran was producing approximately nine kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent uranium-235 per month. “Accelerating the production of uranium enriched to 60 percent U-235 is concerning because the material can be quickly enriched to weapons-grade levels or 90 percent,” the Arms Control Association reported.
“Once you&#8217;re at 60, you&#8217;re 90% of the way there. You are, in essence, a threshold nuclear weapons state, which is what Iran basically has become,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-foreign-minister-vows-nuclear-enrichment-continue-with-without-deal?intcmp=tw_fnc&amp;taid=682aa729f8868200012f443a&amp;utm_campaign=trueanthem&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> said</a> on Thursday.
Uranium enrichment involves increasing the concentration of the Uranium-235 (U-235) isotope in uranium, from its normal 0.7% to 3.5% for use in nuclear reactors or going further, over 20%, at which point it can be used for nuclear weapons.
“Because Iran has reduced its cooperation with the Agency, the IAEA is no longer able to precisely verify Iran&#8217;s stockpile of enriched uranium at any one time,” Iran Watch<a href="https://www.iranwatch.org/our-publications/articles-reports/irans-nuclear-timetable-weapon-potential" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> noted</a> in late March of this year in a comprehensive article about Iran’s nuclear weapons program, adding, “Iran’s nuclear program has reached the point at which Iran might be able to enrich enough uranium for five fission weapons within about one week and enough for eight weapons in less than two weeks.”
The danger of Iran further enriching uranium was explicated thus: “Iran&#8217;s centrifuges have not produced uranium usually defined as weapon-grade, which is uranium enriched to 90% or higher in the isotope U-235. All of Iran’s production has been at lower grades. Thus, the lower-grade uranium would have to be enriched further to reach at least 90%.”
In April 2024, Iran <a href="https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2024/as-iran-threatens-israel-the-danger-of-tehrans-long-vaunted-missile-program-remains-in-question/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched</a> a reported 30 cruise and 120 ballistic missiles targeting Israel; the U.S. Director of National Intelligence stated, “Iran has the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the region and continues to emphasize improving the accuracy, lethality and reliability of these systems.”
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei verbally attacked President Donald Trump in front of a crowd chanting “death to America” in recent comments; Khamenei accused Trump of “lying.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Trump Is Lying and His Statements Are Not Worth a Response; Israel Will Be Dismantled; Crowd Chants “Death to America” Multiple Times <a href="https://t.co/STqgNBsSP5">pic.twitter.com/STqgNBsSP5</a>
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) <a href="https://twitter.com/MEMRIReports/status/1924053709585043708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

IRAN-TEHRAN-FM-RUSSIA-FM-PRESS CONFERENCE

Iran Foreign Minister Taunts U.S.: Deal Or No Deal, We Will Enrich Uranium

Global Politics

Iran

Iran Nuclear

Iran Nuclear Deal

Nuclear Weapons

Politics

Uranium

This week, every GOP senator except one and 177 out of 220 GOP members of the House signed a <a href="https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Document_250514_125039.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to President Donald Trump supporting his past statements and urging that Iran’s capacity to enrich uranium be permanently eliminated.
The effort was spearheaded by Nebraska Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts and House Republican Study Committee Chair Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX). Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican senator who would not sign the letter.
The signatories acknowledged Trump’s “strong support&#8221; for &#8220;efforts to secure a deal with Iran that dismantles its nuclear program, and to reinforce the explicit warnings that you and officials in your administration have issued that the regime must permanently give up any capacity for enrichment.”
After noting Trump’s first-term withdrawal from the “deeply broken” Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and his imposition of maximum pressure on the regime, the signatories pointed out that the Obama JCPOA deal “allowed Iran to sell oil, provided waivers allowing third countries to help Iran build out its nuclear program, and included the termination of United Nations sanctions on the regime.&#8221;
They noted that Trump’s maximum pressure campaign had deterred Iran from making substantial nuclear progress. “Tragically, the Biden administration systematically undid that pressure, functionally re-implementing the nuclear deal. They immediately rescinded your decision to reimpose U.N. sanctions, allowed Iran to sell oil at JCPOA-levels, and even re-issued waivers allowing Iran to build out its nuclear program,” they continued.
“As you predicted, those policies indeed allowed Iran to reach the brink of nuclear breakout, which is where they are today,” they asserted. “The scope and breadth of Iran’s nuclear buildout have made it impossible to verify any new deal that allows Iran to continue enriching uranium. In its most recent report, published on February 26, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that because of Iran’s activities over the last four years, ‘the Agency has lost continuity of knowledge in relation to the production and current inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and UOC, which it will not be possible to restore.’”
They quoted Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum that stated, “Iran’s nuclear program, including its enrichment- and reprocessing-related capabilities and nuclear-capable missiles, poses an existential danger to the United States and the entire civilized world,” then additionally quoted him saying recently that only “full dismantlement” of those capabilities would be acceptable.
“We cannot afford another agreement that enables Iran to play for time, as the JCPOA did. The Iranian regime should know that the administration has Congressional backing to ensure their ability to enrich uranium is permanently eliminated,” they concluded.

MixCollage-16-May-2025-10-53-AM-8010

Nearly Every Congressional Republican Wants Trump To Show No Mercy With Iran Deal

Congress

Donald Trump

Executive

House Republicans

U.S. Senate

Once again, the Islamic Republic of Iran is drawing the United States into talks through the Sultanate of Oman. Some Western officials and analysts frame this as an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-us-start-talks-oman-under-shadow-regional-conflict-2025-04-12/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opportunity</a> for de-escalation, but the evidence suggests otherwise. The regime’s decision to engage is a tactical maneuver aimed at delaying pressure, repositioning itself diplomatically, and benefiting from potential external shifts. If not met with firm containment, this round of diplomacy will mirror past failures.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/iran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Iran’s</a> current position is fragile. The <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/06/us-will-collapse-irans-economy-by-shutting-down-its-oil-industry-treasury-secretary-says.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">economy</a> is deteriorating rapidly, with persistent inflation and currency depreciation undermining basic economic stability. Domestically, the regime continues to face discontent that, while suppressed by force, has not been resolved through legitimacy. 
Regionally, its power projection has eroded. Hamas has been severely degraded, Hezbollah has suffered significant military setbacks, and Iran’s network of militias faces growing pressure from Israel and Western-aligned actors. The regime is seeking time for political dynamics in Washington to shift, for global energy markets to realign, and for Persian Gulf partners to return focus to short-term economic stabilization over long-term isolation strategies. None of this signals readiness to change course — it signals a regime buying time, again.
Engagement with Iran does not support the Iranian people. Every round of diplomacy has ended with the IRGC stronger, dissidents more isolated, and Tehran more defiant. Historically, sanctions relief and renewed <a href="https://www.meforum.org/mef-observer/how-the-iranian-regime-seeks-to-build-its-power-upon-american-naivete" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diplomatic engagement</a> have bolstered the regime’s internal security networks. Resources gained through these openings are funneled to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), intelligence services, and patronage systems that reinforce regime control. The October 7 massacre was the price of appeasement. Billions flowed to Iran under Biden — and blood flowed in Israel.
The coalition pushing for a deal does not have American interests in mind. China and Russia want breathing room for their ally. The Europeans want to claim progress ahead of their own elections. And some in the Persian Gulf would rather appease Tehran than risk direct confrontation. 
<div id="attachment_911379" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-911379" class="size-large wp-image-911379" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2210316600-864x576.jpg" alt="Italian police officers outside the entrance of the Omani embassy, in Rome, Italy, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. Iran and the US on Saturday began a second round of talks aimed at reaching a deal over Tehran's nuclear program, according to Iranian state television. Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg via Getty Images" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2210316600-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2210316600-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2210316600-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2210316600.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Italian police officers outside the entrance of the Omani embassy, in Rome, Italy, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
President Donald Trump has an opportunity to break this cycle of failure. His administration must recognize that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is not a rational actor. He does not negotiate in good faith, he does not reform, and he does not seek peace. Like Hamas’s Yahya Sinwar, Khamenei sees both survival and martyrdom as victory — an outlook rooted in radical Islamist ideology that glorifies death over compromise. As Gaza burned, Sinwar sat gripping a stick, waiting for the drone that would kill him — convinced he had already won. Khamenei would do the same to Iran. He would rather watch cities collapse and millions suffer than compromise with the West. 
Some argue that if Tehran <a href="https://allisrael.com/is-the-libyan-disarmament-a-viable-model-for-iran-understanding-the-option-netanyahu-would-like-to-see" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismantles</a> its nuclear program and allows missile inspections, a deal might be acceptable — similar to the Libya model. But that view misunderstands the nature of the Islamic Republic. Its nuclear ambitions are a symptom, not the root of the threat. The regime’s hostility toward the U.S. and Israel is ideological, rooted in its identity. That identity cannot be negotiated away. A deal now would prolong the regime’s survival and empower the institutions behind its repression and aggression. 
Tehran’s use of calibrated escalation further underscores the risks of engagement without parallel containment. In 2019, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-refineries-drone-attack.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regime</a> struck Saudi oil infrastructure expecting a restrained U.S. response. Israeli <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgr0yvrx4qpo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strikes</a> on IRGC-affiliated targets have been met with limited, symbolic responses rather than strategic confrontation. This behavior is consistent with a <a href="https://www.iiss.org/globalassets/media-library---content--migration/images/comment/analysis/2017/december/2-mcinnis2125.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doctrine</a> of calculated, limited escalation designed to generate leverage and delay decisive retaliation. It is not evidence of de-escalation.
While indirect negotiations may appear diplomatically useful, they allow Tehran to manipulate outcomes while avoiding direct commitments. Engagement becomes a form of enablement. The danger is not the act of negotiation itself, but the repetition of a failed process in which pressure is relieved while Tehran stabilizes, regroups, and continues regional destabilization.
To protect U.S. and allied interests, the correct response to the regime’s current posture is neither renewed engagement nor war, but the full activation of isolation mechanisms. This includes triggering the UN snapback sanctions mechanism under <a href="https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/sres81/BILLS-119sres81is.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UNSCR 2231</a>, designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization at the <a href="https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-838780" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EU level</a>, freezing <a href="https://financialpost.com/pmn/us-imposes-sanctions-on-a-chinese-refinery-accused-of-buying-iranian-oil" target="_blank" rel="noopener">assets</a> linked to Chinese and Malaysian brokers facilitating regime oil exports, and exposing the logistical infrastructure that allows the IRGC to operate regionally. European banks and Persian Gulf financial institutions still transacting with regime-linked entities should face coordinated diplomatic and financial pressure. Isolation must be operational and enforced.
<div id="attachment_911393" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-911393" class="wp-image-911393 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209282209-864x576.jpg" alt="An Iranian driver sits in his vehicle, which is parked under an anti-U.S. mural in downtown Tehran, Iran, on April 12, 2025, during the day of the Iran-U.S. nuclear discussions. According to Iranian officials, indirect nuclear discussions between Iran and the United States begin in Muscat, Oman, on April 12. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209282209-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209282209-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209282209-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2209282209.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />An Iranian driver sits in his vehicle, which is parked under an anti-U.S. mural in downtown Tehran, Iran, on April 12, 2025, during the day of the Iran-U.S. nuclear discussions. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</div>
In the likely event of further regime degradation, the United States and its allies must be prepared for a leadership vacuum. Any transition scenario must include support for figures with broad-based legitimacy, cross-generational appeal, and a clear public commitment to secular democratic governance. The <a href="https://www.meforum.org/mef-observer/the-u-s-must-engage-with-reza-pahlavi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">son of the late Shah</a> is uniquely positioned as a unifying figure with broad-based legitimacy and recognition required to facilitate a post-regime transition. He consistently advocates a referendum-based process to empower Iranians in determining their political future, explicitly refraining from promoting any particular system, including monarchy. His value lies in providing political continuity, grounded solely in his national stature and widespread public recognition during a potentially volatile transition period. During recent national celebrations — including Nowruz and Chaharshanbe Suri — <a href="https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-847541" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Iranians</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUrz6uoeRXc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chanted</a> his name in cities across the country. These were not isolated incidents or orchestrated campaigns; they were widespread, public expressions of recognition. No other figure inside or outside Iran has generated this level of organic visibility. 
There are additional risks that must be managed. Steve Witkoff, appointed as special envoy by the Trump administration, currently leads the Iran talks. His extensive <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2024/11/steve-witkoff-middle-east-envoy-real-estate-mogul-donald-trump/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">business</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/25/us/politics/witkoff-trump-middle-east-envoy.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">connections</a> with investors in Persian Gulf states, notably Qatar and Saudi Arabia, raise legitimate concerns about regional influence over U.S. policy direction. Some regional partners could advocate for a &#8216;stability-focused&#8217; agreement that sustains a weakened yet intact Islamic Republic, rather than supporting a genuinely secular and democratic alternative beyond their sphere of influence. This scenario would replicate the strategic failures of the JCPOA, entrenching regime survival without accountability, and directly compromising U.S. and Israeli national security interests.
If negotiations stall, Tehran’s fallback is limited, survivable conflict. The regime has long embraced a strategy of controlled escalation — not to win wars, but to provoke just enough confrontation to shift global focus, fracture internal dissent, and reset its legitimacy. In its calculus, limited war is safer than isolation. That’s why containment must be decisive. If neither diplomacy nor confrontation offer the regime an exit, internal collapse becomes inevitable.
The current diplomatic track with Iran is not designed to prevent conflict or nuclear escalation. It is designed to create space for the regime to survive. That calculation must be reversed. The United States and its allies must pursue containment and isolation as the strategic baseline — not the fallback. That’s how you flip the script — and how you make Tehran fear American resolve again.
* * *
Dr. Aidin Panahi is an Iranian-American research professor, energy expert, and political activist. He is the cofounder of the “From Boston to Iran” initiative and his analyses on security and policy issues have appeared in outlets including The Jerusalem Post, Washington Times, Middle East Forum, Homeland Security Today, and Visegrád24. X: @Aidin_FreeIran 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Iran and US Begin Second Round of Mediated Nuclear Talks in Rome

A Tactical Trap. Why It’s Time To Flip The Script On Iran.

Ali Khamenei

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

China

Middle East

Oman

President Trump

Russia

Saudi Arabia

Steve Witkoff

The Trump administration on Tuesday announced new sanctions against two Iranian petroleum magnates who use their business to funnel revenue to the Iranian regime — one of whom was caught last year attempting to export cargo to China from off the coast of Houston.
Petroleum magnate, Seyed Asadoollah Emamjomeh, his son Meisam Emamjomeh, and his corporate network — now sanctioned by the Trump administration — are responsible for shipping hundreds of millions of dollars worth of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) to foreign markets, <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0093">according</a> to the Treasury Department. LPG is a large source of revenue for the Iranian regime, which funds regional terrorist proxy groups including Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas.
The sanctions come as the Trump administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-saturdays-nuclear-talks-between-the-u-s-and-iran?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Here%E2%80%99s+What+You+Need+To+Know+About+Saturday%E2%80%99s+Nuclear+Talks+Between+The+U.S.+And+Iran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attempts to negotiate</a> a nuclear deal with the Iranian regime while also keeping up its maximum pressure campaign. The sanctions were announced by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and are in line with Executive Order 13902, which targets those operating in certain sectors of the Iranian economy.
“Emamjomeh and his network sought to export thousands of shipments of LPG—including from the United States—to evade U.S. sanctions and generate revenue for Iran,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “The United States remains committed to holding accountable those who seek to provide the Iranian regime with the funding it needs to further its destabilizing activities in the region and around the world.”
Under the sanctions, &#8220;all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC,&#8221; according to the Treasury Department. All transactions by American citizens or within the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designees are prohibited. Violations may result in civil and criminal penalties, according to OFAC.
OFAC added that its power comes from its ability to both add and remove people to a sanction list, stating that “the ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior.”
Emamjomeh, who is based in Iran, and Meisam, a UAE-based British-Iranian, have owned and operated an LPG sales, transportation, and delivery network through multiple companies in Iran and the UAE for over a decade, according to the Treasury Department.
TINOS I, a large gas carrier vessel in the network, attempted to load LPG off the coast of Houston, Texas, to sell to China in June 2024, according to Lloyd’s List, which <a href="https://www.lloydslist.com/LL1153240/EXCLUSIVE-How-an-LPG-tankers-maiden-voyage-ended-with-the-US-sanctioning-a-sprawling-Iranian-gas-network" target="_blank" rel="noopener">took credit for alerting</a> American authorities about the ship when it was en route to Houston.
According to the maritime news outlet, TINOS I, built in 2024, was on its maiden voyage before sitting at anchor following Lloyd’s list asking authorities for comment. Pearl Petrochemical told Lloyd’s List that it received a license from OFAC but did not specify if it was permitted to lift cargoes in the United States.
Until October 2024, Emamjomeh owned UAE-based Pearl Petrochemical FZE, the beneficial owner of TINOS I, before ownership passed to Meisam.
&#8220;Emamjomeh also owns or controls nine additional LPG companies in Iran, including, reportedly, one company with a monopoly on the National Iranian Gas Company’s LPG deliveries,&#8221; the Treasury Department reported. &#8220;Meisam acts as director and chief executive officer (CEO) of United Kingdom-based Worldwide LPG Limited, while also serving on the board of directors of many of Emamjomeh’s Iran-based companies.&#8221;
One of Emamjomeh’s UAE-based companies, Caspian Petrochemical FZE, is &#8220;part of a network that has exported thousands of shipments of LPG from Iran to Pakistan and [has] conducted tens of millions of dollars in business on behalf of Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial Co. (PGPICC).&#8221;
PGPICC has been designated by OFAC since July 2019 for being owned or controlled by Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC), which was also designated on the same day for providing financial support to Khatam al-Anbiya, the engineering conglomerate of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Emamjomeh’s designation is the consequence of his operating in the petroleum sector of the Iranian economy. The designation will extend to several of the companies he owns or controls, including Caspian Petrochemical FZE, Parsa Fidar Paydar Engineering and Technology Company, Nilgon Parsa Caspian Shipping Company, Arsa Gas Company, Pasar Gas Company, Petro Parsa Caspian Iranian Company, Pasar Gas Novin Trading Company, Parsa Salakh Qeshm Industrial Complex, Parsa Trabar Caspian International Transportation Company, and Parsa Trabar Persia International Transportation Company.
Meisam and his Pearl Petrochemical FZE and Worldwide LPG Limited are also being designated, according to the Treasury Department&#8217;s announcement, on similar grounds. The TINOS I will be identified “as property in which Pearl Petrochemical FZE has an interest.&#8221;

Iran To Meet Own Gasoline Needs After Persian Gulf Star Refinery Expansion

Trump Sanctions Iranian Petroleum Magnate Caught Trying To Move Oil From Texas

Oil and Gas

Sanctions

Scott Bessent

The second negotiation session between the Trump administration and Iranian officials will take place on Saturday in Rome, as both parties hope to continue working towards a nuclear deal.
In preparation for the meeting, President Donald Trump met with senior staff on Tuesday in the White House Situation Room to discuss the ongoing negotiations, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/04/15/trump-iran-nuclear-deal-situation-room-meeting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Axios reported</a>. Officials present reportedly included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and more.
This week, Trump also reportedly spoke with the Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq, the leader of the country who mediated and hosted the first meeting.
“President Trump expressed his appreciation for the bilateral relations between the two countries and for Oman’s efforts in the ongoing negotiations between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Oman News Agency <a href="https://omannews.gov.om/topics/en/81/show/121785" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in a statement</a>.
Here’s what you need to know before the next round of talks.
<h3>First Meeting Recap</h3>
The first set of talks in Oman last Saturday was reportedly positive, with Iranian state-owned news outlet <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/iran-says-nuclear-talks-with-trump-team-were-constructive-agrees-to-meet-again?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Iran+Says+Nuclear+Talks+With+Trump+Team+Were+%E2%80%98Constructive%2C%E2%80%99+Agrees+To+Meet+Again" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IRIB reporting</a> they were conducted in a “constructive atmosphere based on mutual respect.” The talks went on for more than two and a half hours before the heads of the Iranian and American delegations spoke for a few minutes with Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi.
The White House said Witkoff communicated that he received instructions from Trump to “resolve our two nations’ differences through dialogue and diplomacy, if that is possible,” according to a White House statement.
“Special Envoy Witkoff’s direct communication today was a step forward in achieving a mutually beneficial outcome,” the statement added.
Oman, which also helped negotiate President Barack Obama’s 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal with Iran, will continue mediating the talks at its embassy in Rome.
<h3>Military Threats If No Deal</h3>
While Trump has expressed his preference to resolve Iran’s nuclear challenges with diplomacy, he has threatened military force if a deal cannot be made. When announcing the talks earlier this month during an Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said Iran could “be in great danger” if diplomacy failed.
“I think if the talks aren’t successful with Iran, I think Iran is going to be in great danger,” Trump said. “It’s not a complicated formula. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, that’s all there is.”
Last month, during an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-iran-was-told-to-accept-nuclear-deal-or-face-u-s-military" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump said</a> Iran can be handled militarily or through negotiating a deal.
“I would rather negotiate a deal,” he added. “I’m not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily. But the time is happening now. The time is coming up. Something’s going to happen one way or the other.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hegseth-trump-dead-serious-about-stopping-iran-from-getting-a-nuclear-bomb?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Hegseth%3A+Trump+%E2%80%98Dead+Serious%E2%80%99+About+Stopping+Iran+From+Getting+A+Nuclear+Bomb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hegseth said</a> Trump is “dead serious” about preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and is open to options such as using the military.
“He wants it done peacefully, and that’s why he’s going straight to these talks,” Hegseth said. “But he’s also dead serious that if we can’t figure this out at the negotiating table, then there are other options – to include my department – to ensure that Iran never has a nuclear bomb.”
<h3>Israeli Concerns</h3>
Netanyahu has been loudly opposed to any deal that grants Iran even a shred of nuclear capability — just as he was with the JCPOA, which he famously opposed in a 2015 joint address to Congress, against Obama’s wishes.
Netanyahu has taken credit for leading a global campaign against Iran’s nuclear program, including leading “countless overt and covert operations,” according to a Thursday statement from the prime minister’s office.
“[I]t is only due to these operations that Iran does not currently possess a nuclear arsenal,” the statement read. “These actions have delayed Iran&#8217;s nuclear program by approximately a decade.”
During his Oval Office meeting with Trump, Netanyahu said he would like to see Iran following the path of Libya’s 2003 deal, which led to the voluntary dismantlement of its nuclear weapons program. In a <a href="https://x.com/netanyahu/status/1909634954809450878" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video statement</a> released before departing the United States, Netanyahu said the agreement should be a “Libya-style agreement” where those authorities “go in, blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American supervision with American execution.”
According to a New York Times report, Trump rejected an Israeli proposal to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, amid internal clashes within his administration over whether military action or diplomacy was the better path forward.
On Thursday, Trump said he hasn’t necessarily “waved off” an Israeli plan to attack, but that he is “not in a rush” to greenlight it.
“If there’s a second option,” Trump said in the Oval Office when taking questions from reporters. “I think it would be very bad for Iran, and I think Iran is wanting to talk. I hope they’re wanting to talk. It’s going to be very good for them if they do.”
Netanyahu was criticized for the leak of the proposal to attack, which a senior Israeli official told <a href="https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-850505" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Jerusalem Post</a> was “one of the most dangerous leaks in Israel’s history.”
Israel’s strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, and Mossad Director David Barnea, had a low-profile meeting with Witkoff in Paris ahead of the Rome meeting. The two top Israeli officials reportedly sought to express their government’s concerns over pursuing a deal that would be similar to the JCPOA, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/04/18/witkoff-met-dermer-barnea-paris-iran-talks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Axios reported</a>.
Netanyahu is set to issue a “special statement” on Saturday night following the talks and at the end of the Jewish Sabbath.
<h3>Iranian Nuclear Enrichment and the JCPOA</h3>
On Tuesday, Witkoff said that Iran “must eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program,” <a href="https://x.com/SE_MiddleEast/status/1912141949932298432" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in a post on X</a>, which was in contrast to his comments the day before when he left room for the Iranians to enrich uranium up to 3.67%.
“They do not need to enrich past 3.67%,” Witkoff said on Monday, recounting the first meeting in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPFj2sH7vcg&amp;t=332s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview with Fox News</a>. “You do not need to run, as they claim, a civil nuclear program, where you are enriching past 3.67%, so this is going to be much about verification on the enrichment program.”
An enrichment level of 3.67%is <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/2015-08/section-3-understanding-jcpoa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">typical for fueling</a> nuclear reactors for a civilian nuclear program, according to the Arms Control Association. The JCPOA had a 3.67% cap with several sunset periods that eventually permitted Iran to enrich up to any level and increase its stockpile to any level by 2031.
<a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-ending-united-states-participation-unacceptable-iran-deal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump withdrew</a> from the deal in 2018, calling it “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”
<a href="https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2025/03/iran-non-proliferation-private-meeting.php#:~:text=In%20its%20most%20recent%20quarterly,significantly%20during%20the%20reporting%20period%2C" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A February report</a> from the International Atomic Energy Agency found that Iran’s uranium stockpile is enriched to 60 percent purity — close to the 90 percent level considered weapon-grade. The total enriched uranium stockpile now stands at approximately 8,294 kilograms, vastly exceeding the deal’s cap of 300 kilograms.
Iran can currently produce enough weapons-grade fissile material to  make a nuclear weapon in a week or two, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/blinken-iran-one-two-weeks-away-from-producing-enough-material-for-nuclear-weapon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> in July 2024, adding that Iran had not yet produced a weapon to utilize the material.
Witkoff also said that there must be oversight of Iran’s armament capabilities such as its missiles, though a spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded, stating &#8220;Iran&#8217;s military capabilities are a red line, we will never be willing to discuss this,” <a href="https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-850149" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Jerusalem Post reported</a>.
<h3>Iran’s Foreign Minister Meets Putin</h3>
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, who is leading the Iranian delegation, visited Russian President Vladimir Putin this week and discussed the negotiations. Though Russia does not have a direct seat at the table, Araghchi said during a news conference that he hopes “Russia will play a role in a possible deal.”
Last week, Araghchi <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/in-wapo-op-ed-irans-foreign-minister-says-theyre-ready-to-make-a-deal-with-the-united-states" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published an op-ed</a> in the Washington Post, stating that the Iranian regime is ready to make a deal with the United States. In response to Trump’s military threats if a deal cannot be made, Araghchi wrote that in order to move forward, there needs to be an agreement that there is no “military option” or “military solution.”
“The proud Iranian nation, whose strength my government relies on for real deterrence, will never accept coercion or imposition,” the foreign minister wrote.
On Wednesday, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/irans-fm-says-uranium-enrichment-non-negotiable-after-us-says-it-cannot-continue/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Araghchi said</a> that the regime’s uranium enrichment was “non-negotiable.”
“Iran’s enrichment is a real, accepted matter,” he said. “We are ready to build confidence in response to possible concerns, but the issue of enrichment is non-negotiable.”
He condemned what he claimed was “contradictory and conflicting positions” from the Trump administration, adding that “We will find out the true opinions of the Americans during the negotiation session,” he said.

United States and Iran nuclear program deal talks

Here’s What You Need To Know About Saturday’s Nuclear Talks Between The U.S. And Iran

Vladimir Putin

The virulently anti-Israel Biden administration envoy who claimed the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah — who are proxies for the despotic Islamic Iranian regime — were simply misunderstood by the West, cheered the idea that President Donald Trump might make a nuclear deal with Iran.
Rob Malley, Biden’s Special Envoy to Iran, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/25/politics/malley-nuclear-deal-tenuous/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in 2022, “The simple fact is this: as a means of constraining Iran’s nuclear program, the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] was working. Leaving it has not.”
Malley recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/briefing/new-talks-with-iran.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The New York Times, “Biden was lukewarm about a deal; Trump is eager. Biden fixates on domestic politics; Trump couldn’t care less. Biden was calculating; Trump, impulsive. Trump is throwing caution, prudence and logic to the wind. Which is why there is probably a greater chance of some kind of understanding now than there ever was under the prior administration.”
Malley, who had a friendly relationship with arch-terrorist PLO leader Yasser Arafat, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jul/20/comment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in July 2001, in the middle of the murderous Second Intifada in which Palestinians murdered more than 1,000 Jews, that the idea of blaming Arafat for the failure of peace talks with Israel “acts as a harmful constraint on American policy by offering up a single, convenient culprit (Arafat) rather than a more nuanced and realistic analysis.”
According to the <a href="https://www.ict.org.il/#gsc.tab=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">International Institute for Counter-Terrorism</a>, during the Second Intifada, 887 of the 1,137 Israelis murdered in attacks from September 2000 – 2005 were civilians. Just between May 2001 and May 2002 there were these massacres: five Israelis murdered by a suicide bomber at the HaSharon Mall in May 2001; 21 Israelis murdered by a suicide bomber at the Dolphinarium Discotheque in June 2001; 15 Israelis murdered by a suicide bomber at Sbarro’s Pizza in August 2001, including six children and a 31-year-old woman who was the only child of her parents and was five months pregnant; 11 Israelis murdered in a bus bombing on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem on December 1, 2001; 12 more Israelis murdered the very next day in a Haifa suicide bombing; 11 more Israelis murdered in a bus attack 10 days later in Immanuel; six Israelis murdered in an attack at a bas-mitzvah in January 2002; 11 more Jews killed in an attack on a yeshiva in March 2002, including a five-month-old child; 11 Jews murdered in a bombing at Café Moment in March 2002; 30 Israelis killed as they celebrated Passover in Netanya on March 27, 2002; 16 Israelis murdered in a suicide bombing four days later at the Matzah restaurant, and 16 Israelis murdered in Rishon LeZion in May 2002.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), possibly the staunchest opponent of Iran in the U.S. Senate, reacted harshly when reports indicated Biden would select Malley as his Special Envoy to Iran, <a href="https://x.com/SenTomCotton/status/1352434894484500483">stating</a> in 2021, “It’s deeply troubling that President Biden would consider appointing Rob Malley to direct Iran policy. Malley has a long track record of sympathy for the Iranian regime &amp; animus towards Israel. The ayatollahs wouldn’t believe their luck if he is selected.”
Three U.S. officials left the team negotiating with Iran because Malley would not take a harder negotiating position regarding sanctions.
Wang Xiyue, imprisoned in Iran between 2016 and 2019, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-01-21/biden-s-first-foreign-policy-blunder-could-be-on-iran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in 2021 that Biden appointing him as Special Envoy “would send a chilling signal to the dictatorship in Iran that the United States is solely focused on re-entering the Iran nuclear deal, and ignoring its regional terror and domestic crimes against humanity. It would also send a signal to Iranians, Syrians, Iraqis, Lebanese, and all others that are being repressed by the Iranian regime and its proxies that the Biden administration does not care about their human rights.”
“In 2023, Malley stopped briefing Congress about his diplomatic efforts,” The Washington Free Beacon <a href="https://freebeacon.com/national-security/rob-malley-cheers-trump-nuclear-talks-with-iran/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. “It soon became clear that he had been placed on administrative leave pending a State Department investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Malley eventually had his top secret security clearance pulled, and the FBI picked up the investigation into his activities. The Biden administration never released information about the findings of its investigation into Malley before leaving office.”
In 2010, in a documentary called Cultures of Resistance, Malley <a href="https://www.commentary.org/articles/eli-lake/robert-malley-noxious-views-now-mainstream/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> for Israel to allow Hamas “to govern” Gaza. In a 1980 <a href="https://ydnhistorical.library.yale.edu/?a=d&amp;d=YDN19801027-01.2.5&amp;srpos=4&amp;e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN--------false" target="_blank" rel="noopener">piece</a>, he justified the violence Palestinians inflicted on Jews, writing, “There is a lot to be said about the Israeli treatment of Arabs — shameful on the part of a people who suffered more than any other from the injustices and horrors of racism. And the fact must be faced that the resort to violence by the Palestinians is the inevitable corollary of the violence done to them.”

US-IRAN-POLITICS-MALLEY

Anti-Israel Biden Envoy Cheers Idea Of Trump Making Deal With Iran

Biden Administration

Israel

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said the Iranian regime is ready to make a deal with the United States ahead of the Trump administration’s planned negotiations this Saturday.
Writing in the Washington Post, Araghchi <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/08/iran-indirect-negotiations-united-states/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the negotiations would be “indirect,” despite <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-says-iran-will-be-in-great-danger-if-saturdays-nuclear-talks-fail?row=0&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;title=Trump+Says+Iran+Will+Be+In+%E2%80%98Great+Danger%E2%80%99+If+Saturday%E2%80%99s+Nuclear+Talks+Fail&amp;category=News" target="_blank" rel="noopener">President Donald Trump stating</a> that they would be “high-level” and “direct” on Monday. Iranian state-run media reported that the talks would be between Araqchi and the U.S. Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff, with Oman’s foreign minister Badr al-Busaidi serving as a mediator, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-iran-direct-talks-over-nuclear-program-trump-says-2025-04-07/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Reuters</a>.
The foreign minister wrote that the Iranian regime has been exchanging messages and letters with the Trump administration for weeks. He added that the communication represents “a genuine attempt to clarify positions and open a window toward diplomacy.”
Aragachi said he had experience negotiating with the United States in 2021, though a deal was not possible because of a “lack of real determination by the Biden administration.”
He added that the Iranian regime is distrustful and “harbors serious doubts” about the Trump administration’s intentions, citing Trump resuming his “maximum pressure” campaign after returning to office.
Responding to Trump’s threat of taking military action if a deal cannot be made, Araghchi said that in order to move forward, there needs to be an agreement that there is no “military option” or “military solution.”
“The proud Iranian nation, whose strength my government relies on for real deterrence, will never accept coercion or imposition,” the foreign minister wrote.
Appealing to American citizens weary of foreign conflict, he adds that spending tax dollars on “escalating the U.S. military presence in our region, potentially endangering American soldiers far from home, is not conducive to a diplomatic outcome.”
“We cannot imagine President Trump wanting to become another U.S. president mired in a catastrophic war in the Middle East — a conflict that would quickly extend across the region and cost exponentially more than the trillions of taxpayer dollars that his predecessors burned in Afghanistan and Iraq,” he added.
He added that while Iran prefers diplomacy, “it knows how to defend itself.”
“We seek peace, but will never accept submission,” Araghachi wrote.
Araghchi, acknowledging Trump&#8217;s opposition to Barack Obama’s 2015 Iran nuclear deal, made the questionable claim that the Iranian regime has upheld the agreement&#8217;s condition stating that Iran shall never seek nuclear weapons.
<a href="https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2025/03/iran-non-proliferation-private-meeting.php#:~:text=In%20its%20most%20recent%20quarterly,significantly%20during%20the%20reporting%20period%2C" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A February report</a> from the International Atomic Energy Agency found that Iran’s uranium stockpile is enriched to 60 percent purity — close to the 90 percent level considered weapon-grade and far above the 3.67 percent limit set by the Iran deal.
The total enriched uranium stockpile now stands at approximately 8,294 kilograms, vastly exceeding the deal’s cap of 300 kilograms.
<a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-ending-united-states-participation-unacceptable-iran-deal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump withdrew</a> from the deal during his first term in 2018, calling it “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”
Araghchi went on to make the case for economic cooperation, stating that the country is “open to welcoming businesses from around the world,” citing an agreement to buy 80 planes from Boeing as part of a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/boeing-iran-air-clinch-16-billion-deal-80-planes-n694521">deal</a> in 2016.
“The truth is that we are open to welcoming businesses from around the world. It is the U.S. administrations and congressional impediments, not Iran, that have kept American enterprises away from the trillion-dollar opportunity that access to our economy represents,” Araghchi wrote. “To say that the scope for trade and investment in Iran is unparalleled is an understatement.”
Engaging in economic ventures with Iran would require the removal of American heavy sanctions on Iran that were put in place to curb the Iranian regime, which is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism.
The talks come amid the United States’ ongoing strikes on the Houthis, an Iranian proxy group in Yemen that has disrupted global trade and fired ballistic missiles at Israel.

In WaPo Op-Ed, Iran’s Foreign Minister Says They’re Ready To Make A Deal With The United States

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday <a href="https://x.com/townhallcom/status/1909661378442375189" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the Iranian regime would have “hell to pay” if it fails to strike a deal with the Trump administration.
The president has “made it very clear to Iran [that] they have a choice to make,” Leavitt said during a press briefing. “You can strike a deal with the president, you can negotiate, or there will be hell to pay. And as the president said yesterday, if they don’t choose to move forward with diplomacy and a deal which is the direction we do see them headed in, there will be grave consequences to pay.”
Leavitt’s comments come the day after President Donald Trump made a similar threat when announcing American and Iranian officials would be meeting for direct, high-level talks on Saturday.
“I think if the talks aren’t successful with Iran, I think Iran is going to be in great danger,” Trump said. “It’s not a complicated formula. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, that’s all there is.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated that talks would be indirect <a href="https://x.com/araghchi/status/1909381747709546786" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in a post to X</a> on Monday.
“Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks,” he wrote. “It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America&#8217;s court.”
Iranian state-run media reported that the talks would be between Araqchi and the U.S. Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff, with Oman’s foreign minister Badr al-Busaidi serving as a mediator, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-iran-direct-talks-over-nuclear-program-trump-says-2025-04-07/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Reuters</a>.
The talks follow the United States’ strike on the Houthis, an Iranian proxy group in Yemen that has disrupted global trade and fired ballistic missiles at Israel.
“I think everybody agrees that doing a deal will be preferable to doing the obvious. And obvious is not something I want to be involved with or frankly that Israel wants to be involved with if they can avoid it,” Trump said. “So we’re going to see if we can avoid it, but it’s getting to be very dangerous territory.”
Trump announced the talks during his Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who fiercely opposed President Barack Obama’s 2015 Iran deal. <a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-ending-united-states-participation-unacceptable-iran-deal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump withdrew</a> from the deal during his first term in 2018, calling it “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”
Last month, during an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-iran-was-told-to-accept-nuclear-deal-or-face-u-s-military" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump said</a> Iran can be handled militarily or through making a deal.
In the same interview, the president said he had written a letter to the Iranian regime asking to negotiate. &#8220;I’ve written them a letter saying, &#8216;I hope you’re going to negotiate,&#8217; because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them.”
“I would prefer to make a deal, because I’m not looking to hurt Iran,” Trump continued. “They’re great people. I know so many Iranians from this country.”
“I would rather negotiate a deal,” he added. “I’m not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily. But the time is happening now. The time is coming up. Something’s going to happen one way or the other.”

US-POLITICS-LEAVITT-BRIEFING

Iran Will Have ‘Hell To Pay’ If It Fails To Strike A Deal, White House Says

Karoline Leavitt

White House

President Donald Trump announced that officials from his administration will have “top-level” direct talks with officials from the Islamic Republic of Iran this Saturday in hopes of reaching a new nuclear deal. If the talks are not successful, Trump said Iran would be “in great danger.”
&#8220;I think if the talks aren&#8217;t successful with Iran, I think Iran is going to be in great danger.” Trump said. “It’s not a complicated formula. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, that’s all there is.”
Trump declined to say where the talks would take place.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Trump announces that his administration will have “top level” talks with Iran this Saturday.
&#8220;I think if the talks aren&#8217;t successful with Iran, I think Iran is going to be in great danger.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/uEcyAzELgw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/uEcyAzELgw</a>
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/1909339143026663769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">April 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
The talks follow the United States&#8217; strike on the Houthis, an Iranian proxy group in Yemen that has disrupted global trade and fired ballistic missiles at Israel.
“I think everybody agrees that doing a deal will be preferable to doing the obvious and obvious is not something I want to be involved with or frankly that Israel wants to be involved with if they can avoid it,” Trump said. “So we’re going to see if we can avoid it but it&#8217;s getting to be very dangerous territory.”
Trump announced the talks during his Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyanu, who fiercely opposed President Barack Obama’s 2015 Iran deal. <a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-ending-united-states-participation-unacceptable-iran-deal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump withdrew</a> from the deal during his first term in 2018, calling it “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”
Last month, during an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-iran-was-told-to-accept-nuclear-deal-or-face-u-s-military" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump said</a> Iran can be handled militarily or through making a deal.
“I would prefer to make a deal, because I’m not looking to hurt Iran,” Trump said. “They’re great people. I know so many Iranians from this country.”
“I would rather negotiate a deal,” he added. “I’m not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily. But the time is happening now. The time is coming up. Something’s going to happen one way or the other.”
Trump said that he wrote the Iranian regime a letter asking to negotiate.
Last week, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/irans-military-commanders-locked-and-loaded-for-preemptive-strike-on-u-s-bombers-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an Iranian official said</a> the country is “locked and loaded” for a strike on Great Britain’s Chagos Islands in the Central Indian Ocean, after Trump deployed at least three B-2 Spirit stealth bombers last month.
“Top commanders are being urged to launch preemptive strikes on the island and its base if Trump’s threats have become more serious,” an Iranian official informed <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/03/31/iran-urged-to-strike-diego-garcia-base-immediately/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Telegraph</a>.
“Discussions about the island have intensified since the Americans deployed bombers there…Some are suggesting that missiles be fired towards the island, not with the intent to hit anything, but to fall into the water to send a clear message to the Americans that we are serious.”

Trump Says Iran Will Be In ‘Great Danger’ If Saturday’s Nuclear Talks Fail

Benjamin Netanyahu

Houthis

President Donald Trump has informed Iran that it has two months to accept a nuclear deal that halts its ambitions for a nuclear weapon or else the U.S. military will end it for them.
Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/03/19/trump-letter-iran-nuclear-deal">reported</a> that Trump made his deadline clear to the Islamic regime in the letter he sent to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, although it was not clear from the report whether the countdown began when the letter was delivered or when negotiations with the Trump administration begin.
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff delivered the letter to United Arab Emirates President Mohammed Bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi several days ago.
The following day, an official representing Zayed traveled to Tehran to deliver the letter to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Khamenei responded by claiming that the U.S. was trying to &#8220;deceive the world&#8217;s public opinion&#8221; and suggesting that negotiations will never happen with the Trump administration.
Iran held negotiations with the Biden administration for years but nothing ever came from it and Iran was able to amass large stockpiles of 60% enriched uranium that can be easily enriched to the 90% uranium that is needed to build a nuclear missile.
&#8220;With regard to nuclear weapons&#8230; After all, they keep saying: &#8216;We will not let Iran obtain nuclear weapons,'&#8221; he said last week. &#8220;If we wanted to build a nuclear weapon, America would not be able to stop us.&#8221;
&#8220;If the objective of negotiations is to address concerns vis-à-vis any potential militarization of Iran’s nuclear program, such discussions may be subject to consideration. However, should the aim be the dismantlement of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program to claim that what Obama failed to achieve has now been accomplished, such negotiations will never take place.&#8221;
A crude nuclear weapon can be <a href="https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2025/03/14/irans-nuclear-disarmament/">constructed</a> using 60% enriched uranium but the device would be far too big to put on a missile and thus would have to be delivered via a bomber aircraft, a boat, or a truck.
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) says that Iran already has enough 60% enriched uranium to make roughly seven nuclear weapons and noted that enriching uranium to that threshold &#8220;represents about 95 to 99 percent of the technical effort to make 90 percent enriched uranium.&#8221;
Trump has made clear that he is not seeking a military confrontation with Iran and would prefer that a deal be made.
“I would rather negotiate a deal,” he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-iran-was-told-to-accept-nuclear-deal-or-face-u-s-military">said</a> last week. “I’m not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily. But the time is happening now. The time is coming up. Something’s going to happen one way or the other. I hope that Iran and I’ve written them a letter saying, I hope you’re going to negotiate, because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them.”

President Trump Participates In A Kennedy Center Board Meeting And Tour

Trump Gives Iran Deadline To Reach Nuclear Deal

President Donald Trump said over the weekend that if Iran&#8217;s Islamic regime does not enter into a deal that prevents it from developing a nuclear weapon that the U.S. military will intervene to stop it from acquiring one.
Trump made the remarks during an interview that aired Sunday on Fox News&#8217; &#8220;Sunday Morning Futures&#8221; with Maria Bartiromo when asked about what kind of a deal he wanted.
&#8220;There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;I would prefer to make a deal, because I&#8217;m not looking to hurt Iran. They&#8217;re great people. I know so many Iranians from this country.&#8221;
Trump made clear that he was not talking about the country&#8217;s leadership, who he said were &#8220;very evil people.&#8221;
&#8220;I would rather negotiate a deal,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;m not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily. But the time is happening now. The time is coming up. Something&#8217;s going to happen one way or the other. I hope that Iran and I&#8217;ve written them a letter saying, I hope you&#8217;re going to negotiate, because if we have to go in militarily, it&#8217;s going to be a terrible thing for them.&#8221;
Trump said in the letter he told them that he &#8220;hoped&#8221; they would negotiate because the alternative was that the U.S. would &#8220;have to do something.&#8221;
WATCH:
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President Trump Speaks At The White House Digital Assets Summit

Trump: Iran Was Told To Accept Nuclear Deal Or Face U.S. Military

Military

The Obama State Department headed by then-Secretary John Kerry interfered with the FBI and other law enforcement that wanted to take action against Iranian targets.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-report-reveals-obama-biden-state-departments-refusal-to-exact-justice-against-iranian-terrorists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> a report on Tuesday detailing whistleblower testimony and documents that show the Obama State Department’s interference in law enforcement matters involving Iran. The interference began during the time that the Obama administration pursued a deal on nuclear energy and weapons with Iran.
The Iowa Republican called the report “chilling” in a statement and accused the Obama administration of “jeopardiz[ing] our national security.” The report says that the interference only stopped with President Donald Trump’s ascension to the White House in 2017.
“Democrats’ historic refusal to get tough on Iran emboldened its regime and allowed Tehran to continue funding global acts of terrorism, like what we saw on October 7, 2023,” Grassley said. “We should all be breathing a sigh of relief President Trump is back in the White House to restore American strength on the world stage and hold Iran accountable for its evil acts.”
One FBI official said that Kerry “personally” interfered with the Department of Justice on one occasion, ordering officials to “stand down on an arrest,” according to the report.
“The State Department and Obama-Biden administration officials persistently and systematically derailed criminal and national security investigations, creating a shadow amnesty program that protected scores of additional Iranian criminals,” one whistleblower said. “FBI offices abandoned dozens of Iran-related investigations and U.S. Attorneys shut down prosecutions after recognizing the State Department and DOJ obstruction would thwart effective enforcement efforts.”
The report contains whistleblower testimony and FBI emails that detail State Department interference with law enforcement in ways that benefited targeted Iranian officials. Those Iranians included officials with warrants and those targeted by U.S. sanctions.
“According to unclassified FBI email records, before and after the Iran Nuclear Deal was finalized, the State Department prevented the FBI and other U.S. law enforcement agencies from enforcing U.S. sanctions and export control violations against Iranians and actively obstructed their pursuit to arrest these individuals,” the report says.
Whistleblower disclosures said, &#8220;Obama-Biden administration officials in the State Department and DOJ refused to allow already-indicted criminals investigated for years from being arrested on lawfully issued arrest warrants.’”
While the interference took place, the State Department led by Kerry was negotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal. The deal was pitched by the Biden administration as a way to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, though critics said the deal had weak oversight that made Iran’s path to a weapon easier.

John Kerry, Barack Obama

Obama Admin Thwarted U.S. Prosecution Of Iranian Officials Amid Nuclear Deal Talks: Report

Barack Obama

John Kerry

United States

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