US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States and Iran were beginning direct talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, a surprise announcement after Iranian officials had appeared to rebuff US calls for such negotiations.
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Iran had no immediate official response to Trump’s remarks. It had pushed back against Trump’s demands in recent weeks that it directly negotiate over its nuclear programme or be bombed, but it had recently left the door open to indirect discussions.
“And I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable,” Trump said.
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Trump said Saturday’s talks with Iran would be at a very high level but declined to elaborate. He also declined to say where the talks would take place but held out the possibility that a deal could be reached.