U.S. President Donald Trump has said that the U.S. will engage in direct talks with Iran regarding its nuclear program. He also issued a warning to Tehran, stating that it would face significant danger if the talks fail. Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office yesterday, Trump told reporters that negotiations would begin on Saturday. He emphasized that Tehran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. He described the talks as an effort to avoid what he termed “the obvious”, a likely reference to potential U.S. or Israeli military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

During his first term in office, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the landmark nuclear agreement with Iran, which had been negotiated during President Barack Obama’s administration.

The U.S. and Iran have not had direct diplomatic relations since 1980, when ties were severed after Iranian revolutionaries stormed the American embassy in Tehran and held 53 diplomats hostage for 444 days.