Times of Israel
US President Donald Trump revealed that the US is holding direct talks with Iran on its nuclear program.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump says the talks have started and will continue on Saturday.
‘We’re having direct talks with Iran, and they’ve started. It’ll go on Saturday. We have a very big meeting, and we’ll see what can happen. And I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to war,’ Trump tells reporters, with Netanyahu at his side.
Trump says he hopes to reach a deal because the alternative is not something he wants to be involved in.
‘I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious. The obvious is not something I want to be involved with,’ he says, evidently referring to military intervention to tackle the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities, adding that he doesn’t think Israel ‘would want to be involved with’ such an option either.
He says he hopes the talks will be successful, and that it is in ‘Iran’s best interest’ that they are.
‘Maybe a deal’s going to be made; that would be great. It would be really great for Iran… We are meeting very importantly on Saturday, at almost the highest level,’ he says.
Asked how a deal he negotiates with Iran would be different from the 2015 JCPOA from which he withdrew in his first term, Trump says: ‘It’ll be different and maybe a lot stronger.’