US President Donald Trump has said he wanted "direct talks" with Tehran on a nuclear deal, after he threatened to bomb Iran if it develops nuclear weapons.
"I think it's better if we have direct talks," he told reporters on Thursday onboard the presidential plane Air Force One.
Trump has given Iran's leaders a two-month deadline to reach an agreement on the country's nuclear program, which has strained relations with Western nations for decades.
Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapon, which Tehran has denied, insisting its enrichment activities were solely for peaceful purposes.
"I think it goes faster and you understand the other side a lot better than if you go through intermediaries."
They were the first US sanctions on Iran's oil after US President Donald Trump this week vowed to bring Iran's crude exports to zero.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said last week that Tehran would not engage in direct talks with Washington "until there is a change in the other side's approach towards the Islamic republic".
Trump in his first term ripped up a 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by predecessor Barack Obama and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.
The deal, sealed between Tehran and world powers, had required Iran to limit its nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.
"They wanted to use intermediaries, I don't think that's necessarily true anymore," Trump said.
"I think they're concerned, I think they feel vulnerable. I don't want them to feel that way," he added.
"I think they want to meet."
Trump's waring to Tehran comes as he signs an executive order calling for US government to impose maximum pressure on Iran, aiming to hit its oil exports.
Trump said last month he had written to Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei to call for nuclear negotiations and warn of possible military action if Tehran refused.
Khamenei responded by saying that US threats "will get them nowhere" and warned of reciprocal measures "if they do anything malign" against Iran.
Trump last week said "there will be bombing" of Iran if it does not drop its efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
Tehran’s archrival Saudi Arabia signals a cautious approach against bearing the brunt of the incoming Trump administration’s hawkish policies.
