Iran taking steps towards 'negotiating' amid rising tensions with US
American forces have amassed in the Gulf, with President Trump making threats of "major destruction" should the Tehran dictatorship not give up on acquiring nuclear weapons.
Qatar's Prime Minister met with a top Iranian security official in Tehran on Saturday as part of renewed efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region.
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Qatar's foreign ministry said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met with Ali Larijani in Iran amid tensions over a possible conflict with the United States.
Larijani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, wrote on X: "Contrary to the hype of the contrived media war, structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing."
US President Donald Trump confirmed that Iran is "negotiating" but "we'll see what happens".
He told Fox News: "They are negotiating, so we'll see what happens. You know, the last time they negotiated, we had to take out their nuclear, didn't work, you know. Then we took it out a different way, and we'll see what happens.”
American forces have amassed in the Gulf, with President Trump making threats of "major destruction" should the Tehran dictatorship not give up on acquiring nuclear weapons.
The Associated Press (AP) reported on Saturday that new satellite images appear to show activity at two Iranian nuclear sites that were bombed by Israel and the US last year.
The Planet Labs PBC images show that roofs have been built over damaged buildings at the Isfahan and Natanz sites, in what is the first major activity since Israel’s 12-day war with Iran.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warned that the Pentagon was prepared to carry out any of Donald Trump's orders on Iran amid a standoff over their nuclear programme.
The President issued a warning on Wednesday, telling the Ayatollah that if it refuses to give up on its nuclear ambitions, strikes upon his country would be larger than those conducted by American-Israeli forces in June 2025.
"We have a large armada, flotilla, call it whatever you want, heading toward Iran right now," Trump said as he referred to a US naval 'armada' heading for Iranian waters.
Sir Keir Starmer has also backed the United States' threats to strike Iran if it fails to end the programme, amid mounting international pressure.
Speaking from China on Friday, the Prime Minister said the UK supports “the goal” of preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons - just days after Donald Trump sent a “massive armada” of US ships to the Middle East.
Sir Keir branded the Iranian regime’s killing of protesters as “grotesque”.