Trump agreed

Previously, Iran had demanded changes to the location and format of the talks with the U.S. on Friday. The Iranians abandoned the agreements reached in the previous days after several countries had already been invited to participate in the talks in Istanbul and requested that Oman be the location for a bilateral meeting between only them and the U.S., instead of having several Arab and Muslim countries attend as observers.

A source familiar with the situation said this is because the Iranians want to limit the talks to nuclear issues and not discuss matters such as missiles and armed formations linked to Tehran operating in the region, which are priority issues for neighboring countries.

Trump: If no deal is reached, bad things will happen

U.S. President Donald Trump stated that, given that large American warships are moving toward Iran, “bad things” will likely happen if no deal is reached.

“They want to change the format, they want to change the scope. They want to talk only about the nuclear program with the Americans, while the U.S. wants to include other topics such as (ballistic) missiles and the activities of Iranian proxies in the region,” said a regional diplomat familiar with Iran’s demands.

Tensions in the region

U.S. officials reported that yesterday the Iranian military carried out two “very aggressive” actions against American ships in the Persian Gulf.

In the first incident, forces from the Revolutionary Guard gunboats attempted to board a commercial vessel flying the U.S. flag near the Strait of Hormuz.

The Iranian vessels dispersed before the U.S. Navy destroyer reached the ship with support from the Air Force, and no shots were fired.

• Alert: Iranian warships have set off toward a U.S. tanker