INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
President Donald Trump met with his top national security aides on Tuesday to discuss Iran's nuclear program ahead of a second meeting
between United States and Iranian officials on Saturday, sources said.
United States special envoy Steve Witkoff is to meet his Iranian
counterpart on Saturday, a session currently scheduled to be held in Oman
Trump spoke to the sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq, about Omans mediation role between Washington and Tehran.
A White House official
confirmed the White House Situation Room meeting on Iran and said the location was not unusual since Trump gets briefed there regularly to
take advantage of the chambers secure setting.
A second source briefed on the meeting said Trump and his top aides discussed the Iran talks
United States officials have been working on a framework for a potential nuclear deal.
Trump has threatened military action against Iran if
it does not give up its nuclear program while also stressing the need for diplomacy and negotiations.
White House press secretary Karoline
Leavitt told reporters Trumps bottom line in the talks, which included an initial session last Saturday, is he wanted to use negotiations to
ensure Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.
Trump and the Omani leader also discussed ongoing United States operations against Yemens
Houthis, she said.
The maximum pressure campaign on Iran continues, Leavitt said at a press briefing
The president has made it clear he wants to see dialogue and discussion with Iran, while making his directive about Iran never being able to
obtain a nuclear weapon quite clear.
She added that he had emphasized this directive during the call with Sultan Haitham.
Both sides
described last weekends United States -Iran talks in Oman as positive.
Trump has restored a maximum pressure campaign on Tehran since
February, after he ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions on
the Islamic Republic.
Irans nuclear program has leaped forward since then
The two countries held indirect talks during former President Joe Bidens term but made little, if any progress.
Irans clerical rulers have
publicly said that demands such as dismantling the countrys peaceful nuclear program or its conventional missile capabilities were off the
table.
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