WASHINGTON/TEHRAN/JERUSALEM/MUSCAT - US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he is considering sending a second aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East for possible military action against Iran if negotiations fail.
"We have an armada that is heading there, and another one might be going," Trump said in an interview with US news outlet Axios, noting that Washington is weighing additional military deployments while pursuing diplomatic talks with Tehran.
"Either we will make a deal or we will have to do something very tough like last time," Trump said, adding that another aircraft carrier "might be going" to the region.
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers have already been deployed to the Middle East.
The United States and Iran held negotiations last week in Oman and the two sides agreed to keep the talks going. The date and venue of the next round of US-Iran talks have yet to be announced.
Expressing optimism about the diplomatic process, he said that Iran "wants to make a deal very badly" and that any agreement should cover Iran's nuclear program as well as its ballistic missile stockpiles.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Araghchi, in his remarks, said, "In general, I can say that it was a good start. However, the continuation of the process depends on the two sides' consultations in their capitals and their decisions about how to continue it."
Iran says talks with US will stay in Oman
Iran's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday rejected reports that indirect talks between Tehran and Washington would be held outside Oman, saying Muscat was always the agreed venue, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei told a news briefing that Iran welcomed diplomatic efforts by regional and neighboring countries that had offered to help ease tensions and support dialogue.
Pointing to the brief encounter between the Iranian and US delegations last Friday, he said, "There is an understanding to continue the diplomatic process, which is important."
Meanwhile, Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, arrived in the Sultanate of Oman on Tuesday, the Oman News Agency reported.
According to an official statement by the Omani Royal Court, Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq Al Said met with the visiting Iranian official, discussing the latest developments related to the Iranian-US negotiations and ways to reach a balanced and fair agreement between the two sides.
Netanyahu to meet Donald Trump
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed for Washington on Tuesday to meet US President Donald Trump, in a bid to press him to take a harder line on Iran's ballistic missile capabilities in upcoming negotiations.
This is the Israeli prime minister's seventh meeting with Trump since his return to office, including one in Jerusalem in October 2025, after Trump announced a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel has argued that Iran "cannot be trusted" on the nuclear issue and has threatened unilateral action if US-Iran talks fail to meet its expectations. Before departing for Washington, Netanyahu said Iran would be the "first and foremost" topic in his meeting with Trump.
Netanyahu is scheduled to visit Washington on Wednesday. Trump said he does not think Netanyahu is nervous about the US-Iran negotiations. "He also wants a deal. He wants a good deal."
Following Netanyahu's departure for Washington on the same day, Iran has warned that Netanyahu's visit to the US is an attempt to undermine the newly-started nuclear talks between Iran and the US.
