U.S. in hurry for nuclear deal, says Iran; White House calls high-stakes talk ‘positive and constructive’

President Donald Trump speaks to the reporters on board Air Force One on the way to Miami, Saturday, April 12, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday (April 12, 2025) that talks with Iran over its nuclear program were going ‘OK.’

U.S.-Iran nuclear talks updates

“I think they’re going OK,” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “Nothing matters until you get it done, so I don’t like talking about it. But it’s going OK. The Iran situation is going pretty good, I think.”

Meanwhile, Iran said the U.S. wants a nuclear agreement “as soon as possible”. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who briefly spoke face-to-face with Mr. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, during the indirect meeting in Oman, said the talks would resume next Saturday.

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“The American side also said that a positive agreement was one that can be reached as soon as possible, but that will not be easy and will require a willingness on both sides,” Mr. Araghchi told Iranian state television.

“At today’s meeting, I think we came very close to a basis for negotiation… Neither we nor the other party want fruitless negotiations, discussions for discussions’ sake, time wasting or talks that drag on forever,” he added.

A statement from the White House said: “The discussions were very positive and constructive.

“Special Envoy Witkoff’s direct communication today was a step forward in achieving a mutually beneficial outcome,” it said.

Oman’s Foreign Minister acted as an intermediary in the talks in Muscat, Iran said. The Americans had called for the meetings to be face-to-face.

However, the negotiators also spoke directly for “a few minutes”, Iran’s foreign ministry said. It said the talks were held “in a constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere”.

The long-term adversaries, who have not had diplomatic relations for more than 40 years, are seeking a new nuclear deal after Trump pulled out of an earlier agreement during his first term in 2018.

Mr. Araghchi, a seasoned diplomat and key architect of the 2015 accord, and Witkoff, a real estate magnate, led the delegations in the highest-level Iran-U.S. nuclear talks since the previous accord’s collapse.

The two parties were in “separate halls” and “conveying their views and positions to each other through the Omani foreign minister”, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X.

The process took place in a “friendly atmosphere”, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said.

Iran, weakened by Israel’s pummelling of its allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, is seeking relief from wide-ranging sanctions hobbling its economy.