Witkoff promises new nuclear talks with Iran within a week; Trump says not sure they have a purpose

WASHINGTON — US Special Envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff says the first round of nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran since last month’s war between Israel and Iran will be held “in the next week or so.”

Fielding questions from reporters before his White House dinner with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump is asked about the talks, given that he has claimed for over a week that Iran is interested in holding talks.

“We have scheduled Iran talks, and they want to talk” after they took a “big drubbing,” Trump quips, referring to the US strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear sites.

Pressed if he has a date for the Iran talks, Trump responds: “I’d rather not say, but you’ll be reading about it tomorrow or seeing it tomorrow.”

Asked what the Iran talks will be about moving forward, Trump acknowledges that he doesn’t completely see a purpose for them, given his belief that Tehran’s nuclear program has been destroyed.

“But [the Iranians] requested a meeting, and I’m going to go to a meeting, and if we can put something down on paper, that will be fine,” Trump says.

He reiterates his assertion that Iran’s nuclear program was “obliterated.”

Trump says the strike he ordered reminded him of the US dropping atomic bombs on Japan in World War II.

“I don’t want to say what it reminded me of, but if you go back a long time ago, it reminded people of a certain other event, and Harry Truman’s picture is now in the [White House] lobby,” he says, referring to the US president behind the strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“That stopped a lot of fighting, and this stopped a lot of fighting,” Trump says.

He asserts that Iran is now in a different mindset regarding nuclear talks since the US strikes and has gained a lot of respect for the US and Israel.

Asked what it would take for the US to carry out another strike on Iran, Trump says he hopes that won’t be necessary.

“They want to make peace, and I’m all for it. If that’s not the case, we are ready, willing and able, but I don’t think we’re going to have to,” he adds.