U.S. President Donald Trump says Washington could deploy a second aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East if nuclear negotiations with Iran collapse, warning of tougher action if no deal is reached.
The comment comes after Oman facilitated talks between Iran and the U.S. last week, which a spokesperson for Iran's foreign ministry said had allowed Tehran to gauge Washington's seriousness and showed enough consensus for diplomacy to continue.
The talks came after Trump had positioned one aircraft carrier in the region, raising fears of new military action. Trump, who joined an Israeli bombing campaign last year and hit Iranian nuclear sites, had threatened last month to intervene militarily during a bloody government crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran, but ultimately held off.
In interviews with Israeli media, Trump said the United States would have to do "something very tough" if a deal is not reached with Iran.
"Either we reach a deal or we'll have to do something very tough," Israel's Channel 12 quoted him as saying.
In an interview with Axios, Trump said Washington would either secure a deal with Tehran or take tougher action, referring to last year’s 12-day conflict in June.
Trump told Channel 12 and Axios that he was also considering sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East.
Meanwhile, in a separate interview with Fox Business Network's 'Kudlow' programme, he said he believed Iran wanted to reach an agreement on its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, but warned it would be "foolish" not to do so.
The USS George Washington in Asia and the USS George H.W. Bush on the U.S. east coast are the most likely candidates, officials have told Reuters, but each is at least a week away from the Middle East. The Pentagon could also deploy the Ford carrier from the Caribbean.
The remarks followed talks between U.S. and Iranian officials in Oman last Friday, focused on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
"After the talks, we felt there was understanding and consensus to continue the diplomatic process," said the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei.
"The Muscat meeting ... was aimed at assessing the seriousness of the other side and the potential course of the process," Baghaei said, adding that discussions focused "more on the broader picture," Baghaei said.
Baghaei said Tuesday's trip (10 February) to Oman by Ali Larijani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been pre-planned, and that Larijani would travel next to Qatar, which has also mediated in several Middle East crises.
Dialogue over force
Larijani said Iran has long maintained that force cannot resolve disputes with the United States or the wider West, arguing that reliance on pressure and military threats had complicated diplomatic efforts. He described dialogue as the only viable path forward.
"From the beginning, we believe that war does not resolve matters between the two countries," Larijani said, adding that regional disputes "must be resolved through dialogue between both sides."
Tehran has said it halted uranium enrichment activities following last year’s strikes on its facilities and maintains that its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.
The date and venue of the next round of U.S.-Iran talks have yet to be announced.
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U.S. first lady, Melania Trump chaired a UN Security Council meeting on children and education in conflict on Monday (2 March), a move criticised by Iran as hypocritical following U.S. and Israeli strikes that triggered a UN warning about risks to children.
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