U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the United States is nearing a nuclear agreement with Iran.
“We’re getting very close to a deal,” Trump told reporters. “You probably read today the story about Iran has sort of agreed to the terms. We're not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran."
Trump said his goal is to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining nuclear weapons.
"I want them to succeed. I want them to end up being a great country. But they can't have a nuclear weapon."
The president described his position as straightforward: "There's only one sentence. They can't have a nuclear weapon."
Trump outlined two possible paths forward.
"There's a very, very nice step. And there's a violent step, the violence like people haven't seen before." He added, "I don't want to do the second step."
"We're in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace," Trump said. "If we do that, it'll be fantastic."
A fourth round of indirect nuclear talks between Iran and the United States concluded in Muscat on Sunday. Iran’s Foreign Ministry described the discussions as “difficult but useful.”
After roughly three hours of talks, ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei echoed that sentiment, calling them “difficult but useful talks to better understand each other’s positions and to find reasonable and realistic ways to address the differences.”
The negotiations, mediated by Oman, aim to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the easing of U.S. economic sanctions.
President Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear sites if no agreement is reached.
In response, Iranian officials have warned they may pursue the development of a nuclear weapon using their current stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.
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