President Donald Trump said the U.S. and Iran will meet during the week of June 30 to discuss a potential nuclear deal, though he said he doesn’t think an agreement is “that necessary.” His comments at the end of the NATO summit in the Netherlands come after America bombed Iranian nuclear sites, with Iran firing back at a U.S. military base in Qatar and another in Iraq.
US-Iran meeting
The president held a press conference as the major summit wrapped up, where a reporter asked him if he was interested in restarting negotiations with Iran. The president immediately said he’s not interested, then elaborated.
“We’re going to talk to them next week, with Iran,” Trump said. “We may sign an agreement, I don’t know. To me, I don’t think it’s that necessary. I mean, they had a war, they fought, and now they’re going back to their world. I don’t care if I have an agreement or not.”
In 2018, during Trump’s first term, the president canceled U.S. involvement in the Iran nuclear deal, which was negotiated in 2015 during the Obama administration.
Trump did not specify when during the week of June 30 the meeting would be or who would be in attendance on the U.S. side. Iran has not confirmed any meeting.
Trump said the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities are the reason he’s downplaying the need for a deal.
“The only thing we’d be asking for is what we were asking for before, about we want no nuclear. But we destroyed the nuclear. In other words, that’s destroyed,” Trump said. “I said, Iran will not have nuclear. Well, we blew it up. It’s blown up to kingdom come. And so, I don’t feel very strongly about it. If we got a document actually, it wouldn’t be bad. We’re gonna meet with them actually, we’re gonna meet with them.”
Despite the president’s claims, a report from a defense intelligence agency leaked to The New York Times and CNN found the bombs did not destroy the facilities or Iran’s nuclear capacities. The White House rejected those claims.
2025 meetings
The last meeting between the U.S. and Iran took place more than a month ago when White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Omani mediator and foreign minister Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi.
The two sides met for five rounds of talks but never got a deal done.
Following the fifth round of negotiations, Araghchi told Iranian state television both sides would go home and present the ideas given to them by al-Busaidi.
America’s hope for those conversations was to stop Iran from advancing its nuclear program, according to the White House.
Previous nuclear deal
America did reach a nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, in 2015. It was one of former President Barack Obama’s signature foreign policy achievements.
Three years later, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal during his first term. The president said at the time that taking a tougher position on Iran would help him when he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to negotiate that country’s fleet of nuclear weapons.
At the time, many European leaders who signed the JCPOA voiced their opposition to the U.S. pulling out of the deal.
Iran did not respond to Trump’s decision, and former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani even said Iran would continue to uphold its part of the deal.
However, Iran reportedly began violating the terms of that agreement in 2019, acquiring thirty times the level of uranium allowed under the JCPOA, increasing enrichment activities and expanding enrichment capabilities.
