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US envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to arrive in Israel on Tuesday for meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, according to two senior Israeli officials.
The discussions will likely concern Iran, after Zamir was in Washington DC over the weekend for a series of discussions with American defense officials regarding the Islamic Republic.
Following his visit to Israel, Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi plan to meet on Friday in Istanbul to discuss a possible nuclear deal and other issues, a US official said on Monday.
“The president’s been calling for them to make a deal. The meeting is to hear what they have to say,” the official said.
Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt have been working to arrange the meeting, Axios reported earlier, citing two sources.
Meanwhile, Iranian media said on Monday that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered the start of nuclear talks with the US after President Donald Trump said he was hopeful for a deal to avert military action against the Islamic Republic.
Following the Iranian authorities’ deadly response to anti-government protests that peaked last month, Trump threatened military action and ordered the dispatch of an aircraft carrier group to the Middle East.
Tehran, in response, has warned that if Trump orders strikes, Iran will target Israel and American military assets in the Middle East.
Netanyahu addressed these threats in a speech to the Knesset Monday, saying Israel was “ready for every scenario.”
“Whoever attacks us will face unbearable consequences,” the premier warned.
While piling pressure on Iran, Trump has maintained that he is hopeful of making a deal. Tehran has also insisted it wants diplomacy, even while vowing an unbridled response to any aggression.
“President Pezeshkian has ordered the opening of talks with the United States,” the news agency Fars reported, citing an unnamed government source.
“Iran and the United States will hold talks on the nuclear file,” Fars said, without specifying a date.
The report was also carried by the government newspaper Iran and the reformist daily Shargh.
Without giving details on the content of any prospective negotiation, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, “Countries of the region are acting as mediators in the exchange of messages.
“Several points have been addressed and we are examining and finalizing the details of each stage in the diplomatic process, which we hope to conclude in the coming days,” he added. “This concerns the method and framework.”
Speaking on CNN on Sunday, Araghchi said he believes his country can reach an agreement with the US.
Others in the region are also keen to avoid the tensions with Iran boiling over, and Jordan’s top diplomat communicated as much in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart on Monday.
“Jordan will not be a battleground in any regional conflict or a launching pad for any military action against Iran,” Ayman Safadi told Araghchi, according to a Jordanian foreign ministry statement.
Safadi added that Amman, a US ally, “will not permit any party to violate its airspace or threaten its security and the safety of its citizens,” and stressed Jordan’s support for de-escalation and restoring calm.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that Russia is still trying to de-escalate tensions around Iran, noting that it had long ago offered its services to process or store Iran’s enriched uranium.
Asked if Russia was discussing with Iran and the US the possibility of taking Iranian enriched uranium, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “This topic has been on the agenda for a long time.”
“Russia has been offering its services for quite a long time as a possible option that would lead to the removal of certain irritants for a number of countries,” Peskov said.
“Right now, Russia is continuing its efforts, continuing its contacts with all interested parties, and maintains its readiness to de-escalate tensions around Iran to the best of its ability,” he said.
Israel targeted Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs during last year’s war, and has debilitated several of the terror groups funded by Tehran that seek Israel’s destruction. Trump has also warned Iran not to expand its ballistic missile stockpile.
Israel said its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.
Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel said Iran had recently taken steps toward weaponization.
Iran retaliated to Israel’s strikes by launching over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones at Israel. The attacks killed 32 people and wounded over 3,000 in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals.
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