- Trump confirms talks between the United States and Iran and warns of possible military action.
- The United States deploys warships, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln, off Iran.
- Qatar’s prime minister holds talks in Tehran to help ease regional tensions.
Iran’s top security official said on Saturday that progress had been made in negotiations with the United States, even as the Islamic Republic’s army chief warned Washington against launching military strikes.
US President Donald Trump confirmed that the two sides were talking, keeping the threat of an attack at the forefront.
Washington has deployed warships led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of Iran after Trump threatened to intervene following Tehran’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.
“Contrary to the hype of artificial media warfare, structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing,” said Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
He made the remarks a day after the Kremlin said it had held talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday that a broader conflict would harm both Iran and the United States.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought, and in no way seeks, war and is firmly convinced that a war would not be in the interest of either Iran, the United States, or the region,” he said in a call with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to the Iranian presidency.
Later on Saturday, Trump confirmed that there was a dialogue between Washington and Tehran.
“(Iran) is talking to us and we’ll see if we can do something, if not we’ll see what happens…we have a big fleet heading there,” he told Fox News.
“They are negotiating,” he added.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said its Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as foreign minister, held talks in Tehran with Larijani on Saturday to try to “reduce tensions in the region.”
Fears of conflict
The arrival of the US flotilla has raised fears of a confrontation with Iran, which has warned it would respond with missile strikes against US bases, ships and allies – especially Israel – in the event of an attack.
Trump has said he believes Iran will reach a deal on its nuclear and missile programs rather than face U.S. military action.
Tehran has said it is prepared for nuclear talks if its missile and defense capabilities are not on the agenda.
Iranian army chief Amir Hatami warned the United States and Israel against any attack, saying his forces were “in full defensive and military preparation.”
“If the enemy makes a mistake, it will certainly endanger its own security, the security of the region and the security of the Zionist regime,” Hatami said, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Iran’s nuclear technology and know-how “cannot be eliminated,” he added.
With tensions rising, Iranian authorities were quick to deny that several incidents on Saturday were linked to any attack or sabotage.
They included an explosion in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, which local firefighters said was caused by a gas leak.
naval exercise
On Friday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would conduct “a two-day live-fire naval exercise” in the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit hub for global energy supplies.
CENTCOM warned the IRGC against “any unsafe and unprofessional behavior near US forces”, prompting a harsh response from Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
“The US military is now attempting to dictate how our powerful Armed Forces conduct target practice on their own territory,” he wrote in X.
The United States designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization in 2019, a move the European Union followed on Thursday, prompting angry reactions from Tehran.
The United States carried out strikes against key Iranian nuclear sites in June, when it briefly joined Israel’s 12-day war against its regional enemy.
Nationwide protests against rising costs of living erupted on December 28, before evolving into a broader anti-government movement that peaked on January 8 and 9 in what authorities called “riots” attributed to the United States and Israel.
‘Serve the people’
The official death toll according to authorities amounts to 3,117.
However, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had confirmed 6,713 deaths, including 137 children.
On Saturday, Pezeshkian urged his government to heed public complaints and “serve the people.”
Some Iranians at the Kapikoy border point separating Iran and Turkey, where just over 100 people crossed on Saturday, said they wanted to be free of Tehran’s clerical leaders.
“They were shooting us in the back. They even attacked us through our windows,” Shabnan said, using a pseudonym. “Everyone has lost loved ones, friends, neighbors, acquaintances.”
