Trump says he warned Netanyahu to hold off on an Iran strike to give US more time for nuclear talks

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on striking Iran to give the U.S. administration more time to push for a new nuclear deal with Tehran.

‘’I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now because we’re very close to a solution," Trump told reporters at the White House. ‘’Now, that could change at any moment. It could change with a phone call. But right now, I think they want to make a deal. And, if we can make a deal, (it would) save a lot of lives.’’

Trump added that an agreement could come together ‘’over the next couple of weeks, if it happens.’’

The Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s comments came as the head of the United Nations’ atomic watchdog said ‘’the jury is still out’’ on negotiations between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.

But Rafael Mariano Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, described the continuing negotiations between Iran and the U.S. as a good sign.

Grossi said he’s in near-daily conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, as well as talking to Steve Witkoff, the U.S. Middle East envoy.

Grossi acknowledged one of his deputies was in Tehran on Wednesday. Iranian officials identified the official as Massimo Aparo, the head of the atomic energy agency’s safeguards arm. That’s the division that sends inspectors into Iran to monitor its program, which now enriches uranium up to 60% purity — a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

‘’For the moment, the jury is still out," Grossi told journalists attending a weeklong seminar at the agency in Vienna. ‘’We don’t know whether there’s going to be an agreement or not.’’

However, he described the meetings as a good sign.

‘’I think that is an indication of a willingness to come to an agreement. And I think that, in and by itself, is something possible.’’

Iran and the U.S. so far have held five rounds of talks in both Muscat, Oman, and in Rome, mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi. A sixth round has yet to be set.

Talks focused on Iranian enrichment

The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic, closing in on a half-century of enmity.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program, if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium.

Trump has described Iran as having an American proposal to reach a deal. However, Iran repeatedly has denied receiving such a proposal, including on Wednesday with Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.

However, if a deal is reached, Iran might allow the U.N. atomic energy agency to have American inspectors on its teams during inspections, Eslami said. Americans represent the largest single nationality of that agency’s employees, a 2023 agency report showed.

Iran maintains its own pressure

Before Grossi’s comments to journalists in Vienna, the head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard issued a new warning to the U.S. as the negotiations go on.

‘’Our fingers on the trigger, we are in ambush and we are waiting,’’ Gen. Hossein Salami warned. ‘’If they make a mistake, they will immediately receive responses that will make them completely forget their past.’’

Despite the tensions, Grossi said he believed ‘’there’s always a way’’ to reach a deal between the Americans and the Iranians — even with the disagreement over enrichment.

However, he added that any possible deal likely would require a ‘’solid, very robust’’ U.N. agency investigation of Iran’s program to understand where it stood after years of Tehran restricting inspectors’ ability to assess it.

‘’My conversations with my Iranian colleagues and counterparts, I always invite them to be absolutely transparent,’’ Grossi said. ‘’And they tell me that a nuclear weapon is un-Islamic. I tell them, ‘Well, yeah. You know, that is perfect. It’s a statement that I respect. But in this business, you have to show it. You have to be verified in this.’’’

And asked about his own political future, Grossi acknowledged his interest in pursuing the post of U.N. secretary-general, which is now held by António Guterres, whose current five-year term expires in 2027. But for now, ‘’I have a lot on my plate.’’

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Nasser Karimi and Amir Vahdat contributed to this report from Tehran, Iran. Gambrell reported from Vienna.

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