Trump demands 'meaningful' Iran talks, threatens to strike Iran's nuclear site

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States has no interest in holding talks with Iran unless Tehran is prepared to engage in what he called "meaningful" negotiations, warning that US forces would strike Iran's Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility "pretty soon."

Iran "wants to meet desperately" to end the war because it is "getting decimated," Trump claimed while speaking to reporters at the White House.

The United States is not interested "until they're ready to meet in a meaningful way," he asserted.

The latest comments came amid uncertainty over whether Washington and Tehran would resume diplomatic contacts following their recent military confrontation.

Meanwhile, Trump reiterated that the US military would strike Pickaxe Mountain in central Iran "pretty soon." He was referring to a fortified underground facility that Tehran declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2020 as the future site of an advanced centrifuge assembly plant.

"We'll be hitting that area very probably pretty soon. And there's not a thing they can do about it," Trump said. "You know, normally I wouldn't say that. If I thought they could do something about it, I would never say that. But we'll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily."

However, when asked whether Iran had moved centrifuges into the site, Trump said: "We don't have it on record."

"It doesn't mean anything unless they have the material. They don't have. We follow the material. That's where the action is," the US president added.

As of Monday, US forces had carried out strikes on Iran for 10 consecutive days, according to the US Central Command.