President Trump said Friday that he was “not happy” about the state of negotiations with Iran, but that he has not made a final decision about whether to order military action.
“I’m not happy with the fact that they’re not willing to give us what we have to have,” he told reporters as he left the White House for a trip to Texas. “I’m not thrilled with that. We’ll see what happens. We’re talking later.”
Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, who has been mediating the talks between American and Iranian representatives, said on social media that he met with Vice President JD Vance on Friday and that he looked “forward to further and decisive progress in the coming days.” Mr. Vance’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the meeting.
Mr. Trump expressed a much more negative view of the status of the talks.
“They cannot have nuclear weapons and we’re not thrilled with the way they’re negotiating, so we’ll see how it all works out,” he told reporters.
The president’s comments were the first from Americans officials since the United States and Iran held a six-hour round of negotiations on Thursday in Geneva. Iranian officials and Omani mediators said the sides had agreed to continue talking next week.
The United States military has positioned a huge military force in the Middle East, as Mr. Trump weighs strikes on a range of targets, including military and nuclear sites.
Also on Friday, the United States Embassy in Jerusalem told its workers that they may leave Israel, but warned that if they wanted to depart, they had to do so immediately.
Ambassador Mike Huckabee wrote in an email to embassy staff that those who wanted to leave “should do so TODAY.”
“There is no need to panic,” he added, “but for those desiring to leave, it’s important to make plans to depart sooner rather than later.”
Natan Odenheimer in Tel Aviv and David M. Halbfinger in Jerusalem contributed reporting.
Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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