As negotiations near, Trump says Iran attempted to restart nuclear program

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Iran attempted to restart its nuclear program following US strikes over the summer.

"They tried to go back to the site. They weren't even able to get near it, there was total obliteration," he said during an interview with NBC News. "But they were thinking about starting a new site in a different part of the country. We found out about it. I said, ‘You do that, we're going to do very bad things to you.’"

The comments come as Iran and the US prepare to meet for talks on Tehran's nuclear program on Friday in the Omani capital of Muscat. The negotiations had been cast into doubt earlier this week, but a White House official confirmed to Anadolu that they would, in fact, be taking place.

Iran also said the talks would move forward, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying they would begin Friday morning.

The US news outlet Axios said earlier that Washington told Tehran it would not agree to demands to change the location or format of the talks scheduled for Friday.

“We told them it is this or nothing, and they said, 'Ok, then nothing,'” the news outlet quoted an unnamed US official as saying.

Prior to that, Iranian media reported that Iran and the US were slated to hold indirect negotiations Friday in Muscat with a focus on nuclear-related issues.

Before Muscat, Istanbul had been proposed as the venue following Türkiye’s successful intervention to help ease tensions between the two countries.

Axios cited the official, who said if the Iranians are willing to return to the original format for the talks, the US is ready to meet this week or next.

But Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency cited a source that said Washington seeks to “raise issues outside the nuclear framework, including defense matters.”

“These demands are not only unrelated to the nuclear file but are directly tied to national security and the country’s deterrent capability and are fundamentally non-negotiable,” said the unnamed source.

He added that Iran is “ready to negotiate within a defined framework based on mutual respect on nuclear matters” but noted that the “insistence on excessive demands and raising issues beyond the agreement is the main factor behind any potential deadlock.”

Oman previously served as a mediator in indirect contacts between the two sides.

The planned talks come amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran fueled by an American military buildup in the Persian Gulf and repeated threats of military action by Trump.

In recent days, several countries have stepped in and offered to mediate between Tehran and Washington to ease tensions, with Türkiye playing a particularly active role.

The US and its ally Israel accuse Iran of seeking to produce nuclear weapons, while Tehran says its nuclear program is designed for peaceful purposes, including electricity generation.