U.S., Iran hold first talks since June as Trump threatens annihilation

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei has said that President Trump’s remarks to the U.N. were “a sign of desperation.”

Speaking to state news agency IRNA, Baqaei also confirmed the talks held between U.S. and Iranian envoys on Tuesday took place via Qatari mediators.

“The Iranian delegation conveyed its views and its conditions very explicitly and clearly to the American side through the mediators,” he said.

Addressing Mr. Trump’s remarks about his pending “big decision” on whether to make a deal with, or “annihilate” the Iranian regime, Baqaei said: “The impression among diplomats and delegations from many countries here was that these remarks did not stem from strength, but from desperation … Threatening a country with military attack is an admission of the nature of the current U.S. ruling establishment.”

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said American and Iranian negotiators “engaged in lengthy talks” on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

In a post on X late Tuesday, Witkoff said the two sides spoke through mediators over the course of the day. He did not describe the substance of the talks, but said they “successfully completed a round of discussions that we hope will prove constructive and promising.”

President Trump told reporters earlier Tuesday that Witkoff and U.S. envoy Jared Kushner had a “very good meeting,” and the two sides “have another one scheduled in the very near future.”

President Trump joined a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, where the president said there’s a “lot of momentum” for Iran to make a deal. Countries represented in the meeting included Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. 

“I like these people,” the president said of the leaders around him. 

The president said Iran’s economy is in bad shape, and he hopes they do something good for their people. 

“I don’t think about the election at all when I think about ending the nuclear threat from Iran. I just think about ending the nuclear threat from Iran,” he said.

President Trump said U.S. and Iranian officials met on Tuesday, shortly after threatening in his address to the U.N. General Assembly that he may “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if a deal isn’t reached soon to end the nearly seven-month war.

Mr. Trump told reporters the meeting happened, and ended “about an hour ago,” but offered few details about the talks.

“It was a very good meeting,” Mr. Trump said. “They have another one scheduled in the very near future.”

The meeting lasted about three hours, Mr. Trump said, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Witkoff were part of it. 

Witkoff echoed that the meeting went well, saying “I feel very good right now,” but provided no further details.

AP/CBS

The U.S. and Iran held talks Tuesday while both countries are at the U.N. for this week’s General Assembly, President Trump said. He also said he believes the U.S. will come to an agreement with Iran, though he did not specify when. 

“I think that a settlement is going to be reached,” Mr. Trump said during a bilateral meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham. “They want to talk to us. They have been talking to us. Even today, they’ve been talking to us, and the relationship is developing, let’s say.”

Mr. Trump was not more specific about what he meant by the “relationship is developing,” or put a time frame on when the agreement would come. Earlier in the day, however, he expected the deal to come after the midterm elections.

The president also seemed to say Iran had agreed that it would not pursue a nuclear weapon.

“They understand that we can’t let them have a nuclear weapon, and there’s a price to pay for that,” Mr. Trump said.

The Iranian delegation is expected in New York City for the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, though it’s not yet clear whether Mr. Trump will meet with either their president or foreign minister.

President Trump told the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday that he had to choose whether to “annihilate” Iran if it fails to make a deal to end the Iran war.

“I have a big decision to make – will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world?” Mr. Trump said.

“Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?” he said. “Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?”

The president also reiterated that he believes an agreement is possible before U.S. midterm elections in November, in which his Republican Party faces losing control of Congress at least partly due to high fuel prices caused by the war.

“I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election because it doesn’t make sense for them not to,” he said.

“They’re waiting to see how I do in the midterm election. What they don’t realize is that I’m not running. I did that already, and won in a landslide,” he said.

Mr. Trump said Sunday he would “probably” meet on the sidelines of the U.N. summit with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is attending along with the country’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

CBS/AFP