Very reasonable???????

Ahead of his Middle East trip, Trump said Iranians were being "very reasonable" in nuclear talks

From CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the Iranians were being “very reasonable” and “talking very intelligently” in negotiations with Washington over Tehran’s nuclear program.

“Soon I’m heading over to the Middle East, and we’ll see what we’ll do in regards to Iran. I think you have some very good things happening there,” Trump told reporters.

“They can’t have a nuclear weapon, but I think they’re talking very intelligently. We are in the midst of talking to them, and they’re acting very smart and very intelligent,” he said. “I think they’re being very reasonable thus far.”

Trump stopped short of demanding that Iran end its uranium enrichment program altogether, which US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday said was a “red line” for Washington.

Some background: Iran has said it will not surrender its right to enrich uranium, a nuclear fuel that can be used to build a weapon if enriched to high levels. The country has long insisted it does not want a nuclear weapon and that its program is for energy purposes.

Trump’s remarks come as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was winding up a visit to the same three countries on Trump’s Middle East tour. Araghchi also made a stop in Oman on Sunday for nuclear talks with US officials, which the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson later described as “difficult.”

A senior Trump administration official gave a more positive assessment of the talks, telling CNN the discussions were encouraging.

Nour News, an outlet close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said on Tuesday that Araghchi’s visit to Gulf states ahead of Trump’s tour shows “a strategic model” espoused by Tehran, in which “active diplomacy and decisive deterrence complement and enhance each other.”

“Iran is trying to make regional and extra-regional parties aware of the security realities of the Persian Gulf,” Nour News said, adding that Tehran sees Gulf Arab states’ “neutrality” in a potential US conflict with Iran as “no longer enough,” and that “the current situation requires these countries to move from a passive stance to active participation in ensuring regional security and preventing military conflict.”