Saudi Arabia's Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud predicted at a closed-door briefing in Washington on January 30 that Iran would be strengthened if the US did not strike the country. This was confirmed by four sources who attended the meeting, Axios reported.
US officials said Tehran seemed uninterested in a deal on US terms.
„Iran always wants a deal. But the question is what kind of deal do they want, and what kind of deal is the US willing to accept? "That's a very good question and we don't see an answer right now," the Gulf politician said.
Khalid bin Salman has expressed the view that Trump will have to resort to military force after weeks of threats, but will also have to try to mitigate the risks of regional escalation.
"At this stage, not doing so will only embolden the regime," he said, according to sources.
Just three weeks ago, Saudi Arabia urged the United States not to bomb Iran and warned of the risk of regional war, according to US officials. One reason for the change in position may be that Saudi Arabia believes that Trump has already made up his mind to strike and does not want to show openly that he opposes this move.
Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Iran would not enter into direct negotiations with the United States unless Trump stops his threats, The New York Times reported.
According to Araghchi, negotiations to reduce tensions between Iran and the United States must be based on a “fair“ approach and cannot begin with threats.
Araghchi stressed that Iran is ready to respond “immediately and firmly“ to any aggression against the country.
“We are ready for war, just as we are ready for negotiations,“ Araghchi said. He also ruled out any discussion of Iran's ballistic missiles, calling them vital to the country's security.
“At the same time, I must state very clearly and unequivocally: Iran's missiles and Iran's defense system will never be the subject of any negotiations,“ he said.
The US president announced yesterday afternoon that a “massive armada“, led by the aircraft carrier “Abraham Lincoln“, is heading towards Iran and warned Tehran of a more serious attack than this in the summer of 2025.
“Let's hope that Iran will quickly sit down at the negotiating table and reach a fair and equitable agreement – without nuclear weapons – which benefits all parties," Trump tweeted at the time.
Amid the announcement, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the country was entering a third phase of conflict with the US and Israel.