Trump says Iran ‘talking to’ US and hints at deal to avoid military strikes | Iran
Donald Trump said Iran was “talking” to the US and signaled a deal would be reached to avoid military strikes.
“[Iran is] “He’s talking to us and we’ll see if we can do something or we’ll see what happens… We’ve got a big fleet heading there,” he told Fox News. “They’re negotiating.”
Trump added that possible attack plans were not notified to US allies in the region for security reasons. He threatened to intervene in Iran following the deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.
“Well, we can’t tell them the plan. If I told them the plan, it would be almost as bad as telling you the plan; in fact, it might be worse,” he said.
Washington deployed a naval battle group led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of Iran after Trump threatened to intervene in response to a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.
The fleet’s arrival raised fears of a direct conflict with Iran, which has warned that it would respond with missile strikes on US bases, ships and allies (especially Israel) in the event of an attack.
But Trump has said he believes Iran would prefer to sign a deal on its nuclear and missile programs rather than face American military intervention, and Tehran has said it is ready for nuclear talks if its missiles and defense capabilities are not on the agenda.
“Contrary to the exaggerated illusion of the fabricated media war, structural arrangements for the talks are progressing,” Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s supreme national security council, said, a day after the Kremlin said Larijani met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Iranian president Massoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that a broader conflict would harm both Iran and the United States.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought war and does not want war in any way, and firmly believes that war will neither be in the interest of Iran, nor the United States, nor the region,” he said in a telephone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to the Iranian presidency. he said.
Iranian chief of staff Amir Hatami had previously warned the US and Israel against any attack and said their forces were in “full defensive and military readiness” to respond.
“If the enemy makes a mistake, he will undoubtedly endanger his own security, the security of the region and the security of the Zionist regime,” Hatami said, according to the official news agency IRNA.
He said Iran’s nuclear technology and expertise “cannot be eliminated.”
As tensions mounted, Iranian officials rushed to deny that several incidents on Saturday were linked to any attack or sabotage; including an explosion in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas that local firefighters said was caused by a gas leak.
On Friday, U.S. Central Command said the Revolutionary Guard would conduct a “two-day live-fire naval exercise” in the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit hub for global energy supplies.
In a statement, U.S. Central Command warned the IRGC against “any unsafe and unprofessional behavior near U.S. forces.”
He came under criticism from Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.
“The US military operating off our coasts is now attempting to dictate how our Mighty Armed Forces should conduct target practice in their home turf,” he wrote to X.
The United States designated the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization in 2019; The European Union followed suit on Thursday, prompting angry reactions from Tehran.
The United States attacked key Iranian nuclear facilities in June, when it briefly participated in Israel’s 12-day war against its regional foe.
Nationwide protests against the rising cost of living broke out on December 28 and later morphed into a broader anti-government movement on January 8 and 9, which authorities called a “riot” and blamed on the United States and Israel.
Authorities’ official death toll is 3,117.
But the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had confirmed the deaths of 6,563 people, including 6,170 protesters and 124 children.
On Saturday, Pezeshkian called on his government to take into account public complaints and “serve the people” following the demonstrations.
