Iran meets Europeans, and Trump sees a “substantial chance” of renewed talks

After a week of intense speculation about the question of whether President Donald Trump will strike Iran to support Israel’s efforts to eliminate the country’s nuclear weapons program, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, announced that there was a “substantial chance” for renewed negotiations.

This occurs while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to meet European leaders in Geneva on Friday.

Speaking Thursday with journalists in the White House press room, Leavitt confirmed that officials of the United States and Iranians engaged in six cycles of direct and indirect negotiations during the conflict with Israel, which broke out on June 13.

Trump reaffirms the hard line on the Iranian nuclear agreement: “ will not allow any enrichment of uranium ” ‘

Leavitt, however, did not say if the American special envoy Steve Witkoff, who led the president’s negotiations with Iran, would be present for the Geneva meetings.

Request by Jacqui Heinrich, main correspondent for the White House of Fox News That the fact that Iranian officials found a way to go to Geneva meant that they could also go to the White House to start negotiations, Leavitt replied: “I will not enter into hypotheses, but as you heard yesterday, they expressed their interest in doing so.”

The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Arabhchi, on the left, speaks with an unidentified Omani official when he arrived in Muscat, Oman, on April 25, 2025, one day before negotiations with the sending of the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. (AP)

Addressing the possibility that the United States is involved directly in the conflict, Leavitt has read a message from the president saying: “Based on the basis of the substantial chances of negotiations which may or may not occur with Iran in the near future, I will decide or not in the next two weeks.”

Although she said that Trump hoped to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict, she said it was simultaneously “directly and clear” that the terms of any agreement with the country should not include any enrichment of uranium, which would contribute to the Iranian nuclear program, the president has long opposed.

A massive smoke plume rises from an oil refinery in the south of Tehran after reports from an Israeli strike overnight targeting the site on June 15, 2025. (Atta Kenare / AFP)

She stressed that the United States faced a serious threat due to Iran’s nuclear program, saying: “Iran has never been closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon”.

“Iran has everything he needs to make a nuclear weapon. All they need is a decision by the Supreme Chief to do so,” said Leavitt. “And it would take a few weeks to finish the production of this weapon, which would of course represent an existential threat not only for Israel, but for the United States and the whole world.”

Iran has everything he needs to build nuclear weapons, says the report

The supreme chief of Iran, Ali Khamenei, is addressed to the media during the elections in Tehran, Iran, on May 10, 2024. (Fatemeh Bahrami / Anadolu via Getty Images)

Nevertheless, Leavitt said: “Iran is absolutely not able to reach a nuclear weapon. The president was very clear on this subject. And, by the way, the agreement that the special envoy Witkoff proposed to the Iranians was both realistic and acceptable, and that is why the president sent them an agreement.”

Leavitt highlighted Trump’s position according to which Iran “can and should conclude an agreement” to end the conflict or “they will face serious consequences”.

“Iran is in a very low and vulnerable position because of the strikes and attacks of Israel,” she said. “We sent them an agreement that was practical, it was realistic.”

According to French OutputThe talks Friday with the Iranians will understand the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-No-Noël Barrot, the British Foreign Minister David Lammy, the German Minister of Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul and the head of foreign policy of the European Union Kaja Kallas.

“ The five ‘consider the’ all the options’ on Trump’s table for the Israeli-Iranian conflict

A card shows where the most important nuclear sites in Iran are located. (Fox News / FDD)

The point of sale reported that Barrot said: “France, Great Britain and Germany are ready to bring our skills and our experience on this subject” and “We are ready to participate in negotiations aimed at obtaining Iran a lasting decline in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.”

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Lammy on Thursday. According to a statement by the spokesperson for the State Department, Tammy Bruce, the two discussed the Israeli-Iranian conflict and “Iran never agreed to develop or acquire a nuclear weapon.

In response to additional questions about potential United States with Iran, a White House representative led Fox News Digital to Leavitt’s comments in the information room.