Trump says 'top level' talks with Iran scheduled for Saturday

Tehran and Washington have begun direct talks over Iran's nuclear program and will hold a "very big meeting" at a senior level on Saturday, US President Trump said in a surprise announcement on Monday.

“We’re having direct talks with Iran, and they’ve started,” Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “It'll go on Saturday. We have a very big meeting, and we’ll see what can happen.”

Officials in Tehran had consistently ruled out direct talks with Washington — until just hours before Trump’s surprise announcement.

The US president said the negotiations are being conducted “almost at the highest level,” brushing aside Iran's public preference for indirect talks.

“A lot of people say, ‘Oh, maybe you’re going through surrogates,’” he said. “No, we’re dealing with them directly.”

The announcement came amid heightened tensions in the region and growing concern in the United States and Israel over Iran’s nuclear activities.

The talks pursued by the Trump administration have been cast as a last-ditch effort to avoid military action.

“I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious,” he said. “And the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with, or, frankly, that Israel wants to be involved with, if they can avoid it.”

Trump did not specify what concessions the United States might be willing to offer or what demands it would bring to the table, but his comments suggested a focus on Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. That’s all there is,” he said, adding that "it'll be a very bad day for Iran," if the negotiations were to yield no results.

Netanyahu, sitting beside Trump, did not speak at length but nodded as the president spoke. Israel has long been skeptical of diplomacy with Tehran.

The announcement follows weeks of backchannel maneuvering and comes at a moment when both nations face domestic and international pressure.

Iranian officials did not immediately comment on the planned meeting.