US President Donald Trump on Monday said that Iran must abandon any push for a nuclear weapon or face harsh consequences that could include a military strike on Tehran's nuclear facilities.
He also suggested Tehran is stalling for time as it holds indirect negotiations with the US over its nuclear programme.
When asked if a potential response could include strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Mr Trump said: “Of course it does”.
“Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon. They cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Mr Trump said as he met El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office.
The US has in recent weeks bolstered its military presence across the Middle East, including the deployment of a second aircraft carrier strike group to the region.
Mr Trump was speaking after Iran and the US held indirect talks in Oman at the weekend. They are set to continue talks for a second round on Saturday in Muscat, Iran's state news agency Irna said on Monday.
“Iran wants to deal with us, but they don’t know how. They really don’t know how,” Mr Trump said. “We had a meeting with them on Saturday. We have another meeting scheduled next Saturday. That’s a long time. You know, that’s a long time. So I think they might be tapping us along.”
His comments came despite negotiators from both nations saying the recent talks in Muscat, led by Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s main Middle East envoy, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, were constructive.
He sidestepped a question about whether he shared that assessment, saying simply that Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon and that the US would consider “something very harsh” if necessary.
“It’s really simple – they can’t have a nuclear weapon, and they got to go fast because they’re fairly close to having one, and they’re not going to have one,” Trump said.
Although Iran insists its nuclear programme is purely for peaceful ends, experts point out that it’s now producing the equivalent of one bomb’s worth of highly enriched uranium a month.
As diplomatic momentum builds, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s director general, Rafael Grossi, is expected to visit Tehran on Wednesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
Later in the week, Mr Araghchi is also set to visit Moscow to continue parallel nuclear talks with Russian officials, the ministry earlier.
