Planned nuclear talks between the United States and Iran are reportedly unraveling as Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Wednesday that he is “not sure you can reach a deal” with Tehran.
The talks sputtered after Iran pushed to alter the format and location of the meeting, prompting U.S. officials to walk away, according to an Axios report. The negotiations were expected to happen on Friday in Istanbul, but the Iranians said Tuesday they wanted to move the talks to Oman. The Islamic Republic also wanted to focus the talks on nuclear issues and avoid discussing its ballistic missiles.
“We told them it is this or nothing, and they said, ‘Ok, then nothing,’” a senior U.S. official said, noting that the United States is still willing to meet at the original venue.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Rubio expressed doubt about the talks, while maintaining that the United States is open to negotiations.
“If the Iranians want to meet, we’re ready,” Rubio said. “They’ve expressed an interest in meeting and talking.”
“If they change their mind, we’re fine with that too,” he added. “We prefer to meet and talk. I’m not sure you can reach a deal with these guys, but we’re going to try to find out.”
The breakdown of negotiations comes a day after Iran escalated tensions with the United States by sending gunboats to harass a U.S.-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. Hours earlier, an Iranian drone confronted the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea—an aggressive move that ended with an American fighter jet shooting the drone down.
Washington has continued a major military buildup in the region in recent weeks. The Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group arrived last month, as President Donald Trump warned of an “armada” moving toward Iran.
“Like with Venezuela,” Trump wrote, “it is ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.” Trump said that Iran must “quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal,” noting that he repeatedly warned Iran to negotiate before he bombed their nuclear sites last summer. “They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again,” he wrote.
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