President Trump gave a rosy report on Thursday about the state of talks with Iran over nuclear weapons, saying his administration was “getting close to maybe doing a deal,” one of the key objectives of his second term.
“Iran has sort of agreed to the terms,” Mr. Trump said at a business round table in Doha, Qatar, on the third day of his Middle East tour, according to a White House pool report. He did not provide details.
It was not clear if Mr. Trump’s comments reflected actual progress in the talks or were an exaggeration for political or negotiating reasons. His claim could not be immediately confirmed with Iranian officials.
As he has in the past, Mr. Trump said that he wanted Iran to become a great country, but “they can’t have a nuclear weapon.” Negotiations have been taking place behind closed doors in Oman, a country Mr. Trump is not visiting on his current trip.
“We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” Mr. Trump said.
Iran and the United States have both said that they want to resolve their decades-old dispute over Iran’s nuclear activities through diplomacy, with Tehran exchanging limits on its nuclear program in return for the lifting of some American sanctions. But the two sides remain far apart on several critical issues.
The president on Thursday shared on social media an article from NBC News that reported that a top Iranian official had expressed Tehran’s openness to striking a deal.
In his remarks, Mr. Trump also heaped praise on Qatar and said that Iran was “very lucky” to have such an ally. Qatar has previously played the role of intermediary between the United States and Iran and its proxies, and Mr. Trump has used this trip to Qatar to ask for help in reaching an agreement.
Iranian officials have proposed the creation of a joint nuclear-enrichment venture as an alternative to Washington’s demand that the country dismantle its nuclear program, according to four Iranian officials familiar with the plan. The venture would allow Tehran to enrich uranium to a low grade, below that needed for nuclear weapons but enough to trade with other Arab countries for civilian use.
But a spokesman for Steve Witkoff, the American special envoy, denied that the proposal had come up in the talks.
Mr. Trump has made mention of the negotiations with Iran on several occasions during his tour of the Middle East this week. On Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, Mr. Trump said he was offering Tehran “a new path and a much better path toward a far better and more hopeful future.”
Lynsey Chutel is a Times reporter based in London who covers breaking news in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
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