Trump says US close to a nuclear deal with Iran

DUBAI - US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had "sort of" agreed to the terms.

"We're in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace," Trump said on a tour of the Gulf, according to a shared pool report by AFP.

Fresh talks between Iranian and US negotiators to resolve disputes over Tehran's nuclear programme ended in Oman on Sunday with further negotiations planned, officials said, as Tehran publicly insisted on continuing its uranium enrichment.

Though Tehran and Washington have both said they prefer diplomacy to resolve the decades-long nuclear dispute, they remain deeply divided on several red lines that negotiators will have to circumvent to reach a new deal and avert future military action.

"Iran's president reacted on Thursday to Trump's comments on Tuesday calling Tehran the most destructive force" in the Middle East and contrasting the "collapse and suffering" caused by Iranian leaders with Saudi Arabia’s “constructive vision.”

“Trump thinks he can sanction and threaten us and then talk of human rights. All the crimes and regional instability is caused by them (the United States),” Masoud Pezeshkian said, adding that Tehran wanted peace in contrast to US warmongering.

“Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country. How can we be against them? Trump wants to put Islamic countries on one side and Iran on the other. He wants to create instability inside Iran.”