From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Trump: US negotiating with Iran ‘right now,’ talks being held ‘all over’ the place
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
After Iran expressed its desire to upend reported US plans for nuclear talks later this week, President Donald Trump declines to share the location of the Friday meeting.
The US had planned to hold the meeting in Istanbul and had invited a number of prominent Arab and Muslim countries to attend as observers, an Arab diplomat confirms to The Times of Israel.
But Axios reported that Tehran is looking to host the talks elsewhere and not include other countries, while Iran’s foreign ministry said talks were underway regarding multiple locations.
Asked where the talks will be held, Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office, “all over… There’s more than one” location.
“They are negotiating. They’d like to do something. We’ll see if something is going to be done. They had a chance to do something a while ago, and it didn’t work out, and we did Midnight Hammer,” Trump says, referring to the June strike by the US on Iran’s nuclear program
“I don’t think they want that happening again. They would like to negotiate. We are negotiating with them right now,” he adds.
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