Asked about a possible nuclear deal that would differ from the one he canceled in 2015, Trump responded, “It’ll be different and maybe a lot stronger.”
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
US President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that direct talks with Iran about its nuclear program will begin on Saturday, the day before Passover.
“We’re having direct talks with Iran, and they’ve started. It’ll go on Saturday. We have a very big meeting, and we’ll see what can happen. And I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable,” Trump told Netanyahu on Monday evening at a press conference.
Trump previously demanded that Iran engage in direct nuclear talks or risk being bombed. Iran responded with harsh words for the US but added that the Islamic Republic would be willing to consider indirect talks with the US.
“Maybe a deal’s going to be made; that would be great. It would be really great for Iran… We are meeting very importantly on Saturday, at almost the highest level,” Trump said.
Asked how a possible nuclear deal would differ from the one he canceled in 2015, Trump responded, “It’ll be different and maybe a lot stronger.”
Netanyahu, who opposed the previous nuclear deal brokered by then-president Barack Obama, responded to news of the direct talks while sitting alongside Trump in the Oval Office.
“We’re both united in the goal that Iran does not get nuclear weapons,” said Netanyahu. “If it can be done diplomatically, in a full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing.”
“But whatever happens, we have to make sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu emphasized.
Netanyahu told Trump that Israel was negotiating a new version of the hostage release deal and hopes it will succeed. He reaffirmed Israel’s primary goals of releasing all of the hostages and eliminating Hamas as a military and political power in Gaza.
The Israeli leader also discussed the implementation of the relocation of Gazans, which Trump had first proposed.
Trump responded by saying that he would like to see the war end and the hostages released soon.
“I’d like to see the war stop, and I think the war will stop at some point that won’t be in the too distant future. Right now, we have a problem with hostages. We’re trying to get the hostages out…. It’s a long process. It shouldn’t be that long,” he said.
