President Donald Trump says Iran is negotiating ‘seriously’ with the US government
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President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he believes Iran is “really” negotiating with the US, stressing that he hopes an “acceptable” deal can be cut.
The president’s comments were reported to be considering options for a possible military strike on Iran amid widespread protests and violence in the country.
When asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One if he had decided on a strike against Iran, Trump replied, “I can’t tell you that.”
“But we have big, powerful ships headed there,” he added. “I hope they will negotiate something acceptable.”
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President Donald Trump departs Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The president then brushed aside the question of whether Tehran would be emboldened if the US chose not to launch a strike against Iran, saying, “Some people think that. Some people don’t.”
“You can make a negotiated agreement that will satisfy you without nuclear weapons,” Trump said. “They should do that, but I don’t know if they will. But they talk to us. They talk to us seriously.”
Trump said the US will not share military plans with Gulf allies while negotiating with Iran, as US naval forces enter the region.
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President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on Air Force One as he travels from Washington, DC to West Palm Beach, Florida, on Jan. 31, 2026. (SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)
Speaking to Fox News Channel correspondent Jacqui Heinrich from the White House on Saturday, Trump said, “We can’t tell them the plan. If I tell them the plan, it would be as bad as telling you the plan — it would be worse, actually.”
“But, look, this is the plan [Iran is] talking to us, and we’ll see if we can do something,” Trump continued. “Otherwise, we’ll see what happens. … We have big ships going there, bigger than what we had – and still have, actually – in Venezuela. “
On Sunday, the speaker of Iran’s parliament said the Islamic Republic now considers all European Union troops terrorist groups after the bloc declared the country’s military the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist group for its campaign of protests across the country.
Iran also implemented a 2019 law to designate foreign military terrorist groups following the United States’ designation of the Guard as a terrorist organization that year.
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President Donald Trump walks after the signing ceremony of the Board of Peace initiative at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
The announcement by Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guard, comes as the Islamic Republic also plans live military exercises on Sunday and Monday in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a narrow hole in the Persian Gulf through which one-fifth of the world’s oil trade passes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
