Talks between Washington and Tehran may be happening, but President Donald Trump says time is running out.

On Monday, he accused Iran of deliberately dragging its feet on a potential nuclear deal. “I think they're tapping us along,” he said, after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met with an Iranian official in Oman over the weekend.

The White House has called the talks “positive,” and a second round is expected on Saturday. According to a source briefed on the negotiations, the next meeting could take place in Rome and would explore a broad framework for a possible agreement.

But Trump made it clear that any deal must end Iran’s nuclear ambitions once and for all. “Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon,” he said. “They cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Asked whether military action was on the table, Trump replied, “Of course it does.” He warned that Iran was “fairly close” to building a weapon and said the country should move quickly if it wants to avoid a tougher response.

During the Biden administration, indirect talks made little progress. The last direct negotiations came under President Obama, whose 2015 nuclear deal Trump later abandoned.

Now, with a second Trump term in office, the pressure on Tehran is rising once again.

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