President Donald Trump said yesterday he believes Iran is intentionally delaying a nuclear deal with the United States and that it must abandon any drive for a nuclear weapon or face a possible military strike on Tehran’s atomic facilities.
“I think they’re tapping us along,” Trump told reporters after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met in Oman on Saturday with a senior Iranian official.
Both Iran and the US said on Saturday that they held ‘positive’ and ‘constructive’ talks in Oman. A second round is scheduled for Saturday, and a source briefed on the planning said the meeting was likely to be held in Rome.
The source, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said the discussions are aimed at exploring what is possible, including a broad framework of what a potential deal would look like.
“Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon. They cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Asked if US options for a response include a military strike on Tehran’s nuclear facilities, Trump said: “Of course it does.”
Trump said the Iranians need to move fast to avoid a harsh response because ‘they’re fairly close’ to developing a nuclear weapon.
The US and Iran held indirect talks during former President Joe Biden’s term but they made little, if any progress. The last known direct negotiations between the two governments were under then-President Barack Obama, who spearheaded the 2015 international nuclear deal that Trump later abandoned.
The British government yesterday sanctioned what it said was a Swedish-based Iranian criminal network and its leader, citing the group’s role in attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets across Europe.
Britain imposed an asset freeze on the group known as ‘Foxtrot Network” and an asset freeze and travel ban on Rawa Majid, who the government said was in charge of the network.
“The UK has targeted this criminal network and its leader, Rawa Majid, due to their involvement in violence against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe on behalf of the Iranian regime. The UK will not tolerate these threats,” foreign minister David Lammy said in an emailed statement.
Lammy did not specify which incidents he was referring to. Iran’s embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sanctions.
The United States sanctioned both Foxtrot and Majid in March.
Since the start of 2022, Britain says it has responded to more than 20 Iran-backed plots to kidnap or kill British nationals or individuals based in the UK regarded by Tehran as a threat.
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