Trump reveals mysterious secret meeting with Iran over nuclear weapons and issues cryptic warning to Ayatollah

President Donald Trump said the U.S. would hold top level ‘direct’ talks with Iran – while brandishing new threats and repeating demands that Iran could not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.

‘We’re having direct talks with Iran. And they’ve started,’ Trump told reporters while seated in the Oval Office next to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, himself a top Iran hawk.

Trump said the meeting would take place Saturday, but refused to divulge where.

‘We’ll see what can happen,’ he said.

‘All I can tell you is there’s a major meeting going on,’ Trump said when pressed, adding that it would be ‘top level.’

The stakes are high. The U.S. has avoided such direct talks for years. The Iran nuclear deal, which Trump scuttled after it was put in place under Barack Obama, was negotiated through multi-party talks.

‘I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious. And the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with, or frankly, that Israel wants to be involved with, if they can avoid it,’ he added. ‘So we are going to see if we can avoid it, but it’s getting to be very dangerous territory, and hopefully those talks will be successful.’

‘And I think it would be in Iran’s best interests if they are successful.’

Asked about the consequence if Iran refuses to give up its nuclear program, Trump responded: ‘I think if the talks aren’t successful with Iran, I think Iran is going to be in great danger.’

‘Because they can’t have a nuclear weapon. It’s not a complicated formula. Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon,’ Trump said.

‘If the talks aren’t successful, I actually think it’ll be a very bad day for Iran if that’s the case.’

Trump made the comments at a meeting that was being closely watched amid a global sell-off after he imposed an across-the-board 10% tariff and slapped additional tariffs on more than 60 countries.

Trump showed no indication of backing down on trade. 

‘‘We’re not looking at that,’ Trump said when asked if he was considering a pause after the multi-trillion sell-off.

Trump fielded a series of questions from U.S. and Israeli reporters after cancelling a scheduled press conference planned for the East Room of the White House.

Instead, he revealed the talks on the high-pressure issue, inside the Oval Office facing new pressure on the tariffs. The White House has threatened to veto a Senate bill that would end the emergency designation that the White House cited to impose the tariffs.

Netanyahu was much less revealing on Iran, while confirming the two men discussed it. 

‘We’re both United that Iran does not ever get nuclear weapons, if it could be done diplomatically in a full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing,’ he said. 

‘That’s the end of my speech,’ said Netanyahu after remarks that were brief.

 At one point an Israeli reporter asked Trump to elaborate on how a new Iran deal was going to be ‘more effective than the JPOA’ – the Obama-era Iran deal that he ripped up.

‘Well, I can’t really say that, but I think it will be different and maybe a lot stronger,’ he said at first – before immediately pivoting to a temporary cease fire with Hamas to free hostages in Gaza.

‘But they were so happy when we made that first deal, because we did get a lot out. You know, I had people right in this office, this beautiful Oval Office. They came in, 10 people, hostages, you know that? And I said to him, so how was it and the stories they told me, I mean, as an example, I said to them, was there any sign of love?’

‘Did the Hamas show any signs of like help or liking you? Did they wink at you? Did they give you a piece of bread extra? Did they give you a meal on the side like you know, you think of doing like what happened in Germany? What happened elsewhere? People would try and help people that were in unbelievable distress. They said, No.