Trump says Iran's Khamenei should be 'very worried'
The comments came as planned US-Iran talks appeared in jeopardy after Tehran demanded to move the venue, narrow the agenda and exclude regional partners.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Iran’s supreme leader should be “very worried” by threats of military strikes if a deal isn't reached with the United States.
“I would say he should be very worried,” Trump told NBC News when asked whether Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should be concerned by the US threats of military action.
Trump spoke after Iran demanded to relocate the talks from Istanbul to Oman, exclude regional countries and limit the agenda solely to its nuclear program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Gulf country would host the negotiations, posting on X that “nuclear talks with the United States” would be held in the Omani capital of Muscat at 10 a.m. local time Friday.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the venue and location were “still being worked through.”
Tensions have been running high with Tehran since its violent crackdown on anti-government protesters last month, which activists say killed tens of thousands of Iranians. On Tuesday, a US Navy fighter jet downed an Iranian drone that was approaching a US aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.
The United States has bolstered its military presence in the region as Trump considers whether to carry out strikes on Iran. Last week, he warned a potential US attack would be “far worse” than the bombing raid he authorized on Iran’s main nuclear facilities in June.
“We went in, we wiped out their nuclear,” Trump told NBC. “ If we didn't take out that nuclear, we wouldn't have peace in the Middle East, because the Arab countries could have never done that. They were very, very afraid of Iran.”
Regional players are urgently trying to prevent a new round of tit-for-tat strikes between Iran and the United States, concerned that Iranian retaliation to an American attack could draw in their countries. After the June strikes on its nuclear sites, Iran responded with an unprecedented missile attack targeting the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest US military installation in the Middle East.
This developing story has been updated.
