President Donald Trump said he is considering sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East in case negotiations with Iran fail.
"We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going," Trump told Axios' Barak Ravid on Tuesday.
A U.S. official confirmed to the outlet that there are indeed discussions about the possibility. The strike group would join the USS Abraham Lincoln and its group.
However, Trump said Tehran "wants to make a deal very badly" and is engaging in a serious manner. "Last time they didn't believe I would do it," Trump said in reference to the attack against the country's nuclear facilities in June. He said back then "they overplayed their hand" but this time things are "very different."
The outlet noted that Iran has noted that it won't discuss any issues other than its nuclear program, clarifying that it is not willing to give up enriching uranium.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit Washington on Wednesday. "He also wants a deal. He wants a good deal," Trump said about Netanyahu.
Speaking to press, the Israeli prime minister said he would "present to the president our outlook regarding the principles of these negotiations — the essential principles which, in my opinion, are important not only to Israel, but to everyone around the world who wants peace and security in the Middle East."
Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iran's supreme leader and secretary of the country's national security council, reacted to the visit in a social media publication, saying: "Americans must think wisely and not allow him, through posturing, to imply before his flight that 'I want to go and teach Americans the framework of the nuclear negotiations.' They must remain alert to the destructive role of the Zionists." He is set to meet Qatari officials in Doha on Wednesday, with U.S. officials believing he could be conveying the country's positions ahead of a new round of talks with the U.S.
Originally published on Latin Times
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