Iran-US nuclear talks to continue in Oman on Saturday, Tehran says
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(MUSCAT, Oman) — The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced that the second round of indirect talks with the United States are expected to take place in Oman on Saturday, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
An Iranian delegation had arrived in Oman’s capital, Muscat, last Saturday to meet with U.S. officials for “indirect talks” about Tehran’s nuclear program, Iranian state-owned news agency IRIB reported.
The White House confirmed that President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff spoke directly with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as part of “very positive and constructive” talks.
The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted to their telegram channel Saturday that the talks ended after two and a half hours. It says the two parties “exchanged the positions of their respective governments” on Iran’s nuclear program and on sanctions.
There had been speculation that the second round of talks would be held in a European country.
ABC News’ Morgan Winsor and Victoria Beaule contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — President Donald Trump said the U.S. will “go as far as we have to go” to get control of Greenland, ahead of a planned visit to the Arctic island by Vice President JD Vance that has prompted criticism from Greenland and Denmark.
Vance, second lady Usha Vance and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will lead the U.S. delegation to visit the Pituffik military space base in the northwest of the island, having scaled back plans for a broader and longer visit. The American group was originally planning to visit the Greenlandic capital, Nuuk, and a dog sled race.
Trump showed no indication of softening his ambition to take control of the island, which is an autonomous territory but part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
“We need Greenland for national security and international security,” Trump said, taking reporters’ questions in the Oval Office.
“So we’ll, I think, we’ll go as far as we have to go,” he continued. “We need Greenland. And the world needs us to have Greenland, including Denmark. Denmark has to have us have Greenland. And, you know, we’ll see what happens. But if we don’t have Greenland, we can’t have great international security.”
Trump added, “I view it from a security standpoint, we have to be there.”
Trump also said that he understood “JD might be going,” referring to the vice president, but did not offer any details about the trip. Vance is expected to travel to Greenland on Friday.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede earlier this week called the upcoming visit by U.S. officials part of a “very aggressive American pressure against the Greenlandic community” and called for the international community to rebuke it. After the U.S. announced that the visit would be pared back to only include the Pituffik base, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the decision was “wise.”
Trump has repeatedly — in both his first and second terms — raised the prospect of the U.S. obtaining Greenland, whether through purchase or other means. During his March speech to a joint session of Congress, Trump said the U.S. would acquire the strategic territory “one way or the other.” Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede dismissed Trump’s remarks. “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders,” he wrote on social media.
“We are not Americans, we are not Danes because we are Greenlanders. This is what the Americans and their leaders need to understand, we cannot be bought and we cannot be ignored.”
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump signaled another twist in the back-and-forth over his effort to force a negotiated end to the Ukraine-Russia war during his speech Tuesday night.
As he first mentioned Ukraine 90 minutes into his address, Trump provided an update following last week’s blowup in the Oval Office between him and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy left the White House after the shouting match and did not sign an anticipated deal that would have given the U.S. rare minerals from Ukraine.
Trump claimed during his speech Zelenskyy sent him a letter just before his speech indicating that he was ready to come back to the negotiating table and was willing to sign the agreement to give the U.S. access to Ukraine’s rare materials.
“Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians, he said. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts. We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine,” Trump claimed the letter said.
Zelenskyy and Ukrainian officials didn’t immediately comment, The letter hasn’t been released by the White House or Ukrainian officials.
Trump indicated to top advisers he wanted to get the deal done before the speech, sources told ABC News.
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — A 14-year-old dual Palestinian-U.S. citizen was killed in the West Bank on Sunday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Monday.
The teen was identified as Amer Mohamad Saada Rabee.
The death comes after Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement Sunday that they identified “three terrorists who hurled rocks toward the highway, thus endangering civilians driving” in the Turmus Ayya area of the West Bank.
Israeli soldiers “opened fire,” killing one person and hitting two others, the IDF said in the statement, though they did not identify the person who was killed.
In response to an ABC News request, the IDF would not comment regarding whether they are investigating the incident. A video of the rock-throwing incident in question was provided with the IDF statement Sunday.
A State Department spokesperson confirmed in a statement to ABC News that a U.S. citizen died in the West Bank.
“We acknowledge the IDF’s initial statement that expressed that this incident occurred during a counter-terrorism operation and that Israel is investigating,” the statement said.
“It is with heavy hearts that The Palestinian American Community Center (PACC) shares the news of the horrific killing of Amer Mohamad Saada Rabee, a young 14-year-old Palestinian American boy from Turmusayya [sic], a village in the West Bank,” the New Jersey-based Palestinian American Community Center said in a statement.
Two other people who were also under 18 years old were injured in the incident, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
“Amer, along with two other Palestinian American 15-year-olds from the village, were shot by Israeli military officers. Amer was shot 11 times in total,” the Palestinian American Community Center said.
Mourners gathered Sunday for funeral prayers at the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton, New Jersey.
