WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump spoke on Tuesday with the sultan of Oman about the next round of Iran talks scheduled for Saturday in Oman, the White House said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Trump’s bottom line in the talks, which included an initial session last Saturday, is he wanted to use negotiations to ensure Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.
Trump and Omani leader Haitham bin Tariq al-Said also discussed ongoing U.S. operations against Yemen’s Houthis, she said.
“The maximum pressure campaign on Iran continues,” Leavitt said at a press briefing. “The president has made it clear he wants to see dialogue and discussion with Iran, while making his directive about Iran never being able to obtain a nuclear weapon quite clear.”
She added that he had “emphasized” this directive during the call with Sultan Haitham.
Both sides described last weekend’s U.S.-Iran talks in Oman as positive.
Trump has restored a “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran since February, after he ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s nuclear programme has leaped forward since then. The two countries held indirect talks during former President Joe Biden’s term but made little, if any progress.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; Editing by Chris Reese and Deepa Babington)
