Trump says US to meet with Iran next week but downplays need for Nuclear deal

 U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that the United States will meet with Iran next week to discuss a potential nuclear agreement, though he emphasised that he does not consider such a deal essential.

“We’re going to talk to them next week, with Iran. We may sign an agreement, I don’t know. To me, I don’t think it’s that necessary. I mean, they had a war, they fought, now they’re going back to their world. I don’t care if I have an agreement or not,” Trump said during a news conference following the NATO summit in The Hague.


Trump stated that his administration would be seeking the same commitments it had previously demanded from Iran before recent escalations in the Middle East.
 

“The only thing we would be asking for is what we were asking for before,” he said, reiterating that a formal agreement may be unnecessary. He claimed the U.S. had already dismantled Iran’s nuclear program, despite intelligence assessments suggesting otherwise.

“We want no nuclear, but we destroyed the nuclear. In other words, it’s destroyed. I said, ‘Iran will not have nuclear.’ Well, we blew it up. It’s blown up to kingdom come, and so I don’t feel very strongly about it. If we got a document, it wouldn’t be bad. We’re going to meet with them,” Trump asserted.
 

Trump also mentioned that he had asked Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio whether they should pursue an agreement just before stepping onstage. Trump expressed confidence that Iran could be persuaded to sign a deal.


Rubio noted that any agreement would depend on Iran’s willingness to engage directly with the U.S. rather than through intermediaries.