Azernews.Az

Akbar Novruz

Read more

US President Donald Trump has claimed that Iran attempted to restart its nuclear program following US strikes carried out over the summer, warning Tehran against pursuing any new nuclear facilities, Azernews reports.

Speaking in an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, Trump said Iranian officials had tried to return to a previously targeted site but were unable to access it.
“They tried to go back to the site. They weren't even able to get near it; there was total obliteration,” he said. Trump added that Iran had considered building a new facility elsewhere in the country, prompting a direct warning from Washington.
“I said, ‘You do that, we're going to do very bad things to you,’” he stated.

Trump’s remarks come as the United States and Iran prepare for talks on Tehran’s nuclear program scheduled for Friday in Muscat, the capital of Oman. Although the negotiations were briefly cast into doubt earlier this week, a White House official confirmed to Anadolu that the talks would proceed. Iran also confirmed the meeting, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying discussions would begin Friday morning.

United States President Donald Trump told NBC News on Wednesday that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should be "very worried" right now. The comment comes shortly after the news that the scheduled talks between the US and Iran have been called off. Furthermore, Trump said Iran is a "mess right now because of us", while reiterating his support for the anti-government protests in the Middle Eastern country.

Earlier in the day, preparations for the encounter between the US and Iranian delegations faced obstacles as Washington insisted that the issue of Iran's ballistic missile program be included in the agenda. Tehran, on the other hand, rejected it, stating that only its nuclear program should be on the agenda.

According to Axios, Washington rejected Iranian requests to change the location or format of the talks. The outlet quoted an unnamed US official as saying, “We told them it is this or nothing,” adding that Tehran initially responded by rejecting the conditions. Axios reported that the US remains open to talks this week or next if Iran agrees to return to the original format.

Iranian media had earlier reported that the negotiations in Muscat would be indirect and focused strictly on nuclear-related issues. While Istanbul had previously been proposed as a venue following Türkiye’s mediation efforts, the talks ultimately remained scheduled for Oman.

Meanwhile, Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency cited a source claiming that Washington is seeking to expand the agenda beyond nuclear issues to include defence-related matters. The source described such demands as “fundamentally non-negotiable,” stressing that Iran is willing to negotiate only within a clearly defined nuclear framework based on mutual respect.

Sources cited by Reuters said Trump is currently more inclined toward military action against Iran, amid rising tensions fueled by a US military buildup in the Persian Gulf and repeated warnings from Washington.

Oman has previously played a key mediating role in indirect contacts between Tehran and Washington, while several countries, including Türkiye, have recently offered to help ease tensions.

The US and its ally Israel accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran denies, insisting its nuclear program is intended solely for peaceful purposes such as electricity generation.