U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should be “very worried,” as the United States reinforces its military buildup in the region.
In an interview with NBC News, Trump said: “I can say that he should be very worried, yes, he should be. And as you know, they are negotiating with us.”
As U.S. and Iranian officials are expected to hold talks, two U.S. officials told Axios that Washington informed Tehran on Wednesday that it would not agree to Iran’s demands to change the venue and format of the talks scheduled for Friday.
Axios quoted the U.S. officials as saying that this dispute could hinder the diplomatic track and push President Donald Trump toward favoring the military option.
According to Axios, the United States and Iran had agreed to hold talks on Friday in Istanbul, with the participation of other Middle Eastern countries as observers.
However, Iranian officials said on Tuesday that they wanted to move the talks to the Sultanate of Oman and hold them in a bilateral format, to ensure they focus solely on the nuclear file, without other issues such as missiles, which are a priority for the United States and countries in the region.
The report added that U.S. officials discussed the request to change the location but decided on Wednesday to reject it.
