WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Thursday he expects an agreement with Iran to take shape within the next month, warning Tehran that failure to reach a deal would carry serious consequences.
“I guess over the next month, something like that should happen quickly,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about a timeline for the negotiations.
“We have to make a deal, otherwise it’s going to be very traumatic, very traumatic. I don’t want that to happen, but we have to make a deal,” he said.
“They should have made a deal the first time. They got Midnight Hammer instead, and this will be very traumatic for Iran if they don’t make a deal,” he added, referring to US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last June.
Trump said he held a “very good meeting” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, but stressed that the final decision rests with him.
“If the deal isn’t a very fair deal and a very good deal with Iran, then it’s going to be, I think, a very difficult time for them,” he said.
Shortly after the meeting, Trump said no definitive agreement had been reached beyond his insistence that negotiations continue “to see whether or not a deal can be consummated.”
Asked whether Netanyahu wanted Washington to abandon the talks, Trump said the issue had not been discussed. “I’ll talk to them as long as I like, and we’ll see if we can get a deal with them,” he said.
The United States and Iran resumed negotiations last Friday in Oman, marking their first talks since the June strikes and ending an eight-month suspension. Further rounds are expected at a date yet to be determined.
Amid the diplomatic efforts, Washington has increased its military footprint in the region, including the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier from the South China Sea.
Iran has accused the United States and Israel of fabricating pretexts for military intervention and regime change, warning it would respond to any attack, even if limited. Tehran has insisted that Western economic sanctions must be lifted in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear programme.
Uranium enrichment remains the central sticking point. Washington has demanded that Iran halt enrichment activities and transfer its highly enriched uranium stockpile abroad — a condition Tehran has rejected.
The United States has also sought to expand the scope of negotiations to include Iran’s missile programme and its support for armed groups in the region, but Iranian officials have repeatedly said discussions will not go beyond the nuclear file.
