US President Donald Trump said US and Iranian officials held an unexpected meeting on Tuesday, even as he warned in his address to the UN General Assembly that he could “annihilate” Iran if a deal is not reached soon to end the nearly seven-month war.Trump said his chief envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, held talks with Iranian officials for about three hours on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders.Trump described the meeting as positive, saying, “It was a very good meeting.” He later added that the Iranian officials were “not the highest level, but it’s something.”What happened in the meetingUS Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said in a post on X that the talks were conducted through mediators who shuttled between the US and Iranian teams.
He said he felt “very good” about the meeting and was hopeful the effort “will prove constructive and promising.”Iranian officials confirmed that foreign minister Abbas Araghchi took part in the talks, which were mediated by Qatari diplomats.Iran conveyed several conditions during the talks, including an end to the war on all fronts and a halt to what Tehran described as US “acts of aggression,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told state news agency IRNA.Baghaei said Tehran also called for an end to the naval blockade and economic warfare, along with the release of Iranian assets, IRNA reported.A senior Iranian official separately said Tehran was prepared to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week if Washington took reciprocal steps to ease military and economic pressure on Iran, as cited by the Guardian.The official said the position had been approved by Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and the Supreme National Security Council.Earlier, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said there was no contradiction between pursuing negotiations and continuing the war.
The position was also echoed by Iran’s chief....
