Trump says he believes negotiations with Iran will be \u2018successful\u2019 as he confirms USS Gerald R Ford deploymen
\n Washington
\nPresident Donald Trump says that he is sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East as the United States increases pressure on Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
\nSpeaking at the White House on Friday, Trump confirmed that the USS Gerald R Ford would be leaving the Caribbean for the Middle East \u201cvery soon\u201d as tensions remain high following indirect talks in Oman last week.
\n\u201cIf we need it, we\u2019ll have it ready, a very big force,\u201d said Trump, adding that he believed negotiations would be \u201csuccessful\u201d while warning it would be a \u201cbad day for Iran\u201d if the country failed to make a deal.
\nLater, Trump said a change of government in Iran would be the \u201cbest thing that could happen\u201d.
\n\u201cFor 47 years, they\u2019ve been talking and talking and talking. In the meantime, we\u2019ve lost a lot of lives,\u201d he said, in an apparent reference to Tehran\u2019s crackdown on recent antigovernment protests that left thousands dead.
\nThe imminent departure of the Gerald R Ford is part of an ongoing buildup of military hardware in the region, with the Abraham Lincoln carrier, several guided-missile destroyers, fighter jets and surveillance aircraft sent in recent weeks.
\nTrump\u2019s comments come days after he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, with the latter saying a \u201cgood deal\u201d was expected while voicing reservations if any agreement did not also curb Iran\u2019s ballistic missile programme. Tehran has publicly rejected US pressure to discuss the missiles.
\nNetanyahu has repeatedly called for further military action since Israel\u2019s 12-day war against Iran in June, which the US briefly joined by attacking three Iranian nuclear sites, in a military operation dubbed \u201cMidnight Hammer\u201d.
\nTrump at the time said the US attacks had \u201ctotally obliterated\u201d the nuclear facilities.
\nThe indirect US-Iran talks were the first to be held since the June conflict, which halted previous rounds of negotiations between Tehran and Washington over potentially replacing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump ditched during his first term in office.<\/p>\n
Risk of escalation
\nThe JCPOA, a deal reached between Iran, the US and several European powers, saw Tehran curtail its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.
\nFollowing Trump\u2019s unilateral withdrawal in 2018, Tehran subsequently began enriching uranium beyond the limits set out in the agreement, though it has repeatedly denied Western claims it is seeking a nuclear weapon.
\nUpon taking office for a second time in January, Trump initially sought a new nuclear deal with Iran, but soon adopted a zero-enrichment policy long dismissed by Iranian negotiators as a non-starter.
\nAs the latest attempts at negotiations continue, United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi has had trouble getting Iran to agree on inspections of sites targeted in the 12-day war.
\nGrossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the Munich Security Conference that inspectors had returned to Iran after the 12-day war but had not been able to visit any of the sites targeted.
\nGrossi said dialogue with Iran since the inspectors\u2019 return last year had been \u201cimperfect and complicated and extremely difficult, but it\u2019s there\u201d.
\nThe US president\u2019s comments on Friday confirm his earlier indication that he was considering sending the Gerald R Ford, which has a nuclear reactor on board and can hold more than 75 military aircraft, to the region.
\nGulf Arab nations have warned any attack could escalate into another regional conflict in a region still reeling from Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trump says he believes negotiations with Iran will be \u2018successful\u2019 as he confirms USS Gerald R Ford deploymen Washington President Donald Trump says that he is sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East as the United States increases pressure on Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Speaking at the White House […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-531414","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n