US President Donald Trump has said that the United States has scheduled talks with Iran, following weeks of regional conflict and a US-sponsored ceasefire between Iran and Israel.
"We have scheduled Iran talks, and they want to talk," Trump told reporters on Monday at the White House during a joint appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"They’ve requested a meeting... and if we can put something down on paper, that will be fine. It'll be good. We'll see what happens," he said.
Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, confirmed the meeting will take place "in the next week or so."
When asked whether another US military strike on Iran was under consideration, Trump responded: "I hope we're not going to have to do that. I can't imagine wanting to do that. I can't imagine them wanting to do that. They want to meet... they want to work something out."
The announcement comes just two weeks after US B-2 bombers dropped 14 GBU-57 "bunker buster" bombs on Iran’s Fordo and Natanz nuclear sites, alongside Tomahawk cruise missile strikes on Iran’s Isfahan facility.
Those attacks were part of a broader US campaign against Iran’s nuclear programme.
A sixth round of Iran-US talks had originally been scheduled for June 15 but was disrupted after Israel launched unprovoked air strikes on Iranian military, nuclear, and civilian sites on June 13.
A 12-day conflict followed, ending in a ceasefire on June 24.
Trump said on Monday that Iran is "very different now" than it was two weeks ago and expressed optimism about future diplomacy.
"I hope it's over. Yeah, I think Iran wants to meet. I think they want to make peace, and I'm all for it," he said.
He added that he would like to lift US sanctions on Iran "at the right time."
"I would love to be able to, at the right time, take those sanctions off, give them a chance at rebuilding," Trump said.
"I’d like to see Iran build itself back up in a peaceful manner and not going around saying, 'Death to America,' 'Death to Israel,' as they were doing."
