{"id":200938,"date":"2026-02-19T17:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-says-iran-talking-to-us-and-hints-at-deal-to-avoid-military-strikes-the-guardian-2\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T17:33:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:33:00","slug":"trump-says-iran-talking-to-us-and-hints-at-deal-to-avoid-military-strikes-the-guardian-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-says-iran-talking-to-us-and-hints-at-deal-to-avoid-military-strikes-the-guardian-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says Iran talking to US and hints at deal to avoid military strikes – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

US naval battle group gathers off Iran\u2019s shores as supreme leader in Tehran warns attack would spark regional war
Donald Trump has said Iran is talking to the US, hinting at a deal that would avoid the use of military strikes, as Iran\u2019s supreme leader warned that any attack by the US would spark a regional war.
The US president\u2019s comments came as Washington deployed a naval battle group led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off Iran\u2019s shores, after Trump\u2019s threats to intervene in Iran\u2019s deadly crackdown<\/a> on anti-government protests.
\u201cThe plan is that [Iran is] talking to us, and we\u2019ll see if we can do something. Otherwise, we\u2019ll see what happens \u2026 We have a big fleet heading out there,\u201d Trump told Fox News. \u201cThey are negotiating<\/a>, so we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d
He said US allies in the region were not being told of plans for reasons of security. \u201cWell, we can\u2019t tell them the plan. If I told them the plan, it would be almost as bad as telling you the plan \u2013 it could be worse, actually,\u201d he said.
Later on Saturday, Trump declined to say whether he had decided on a course of action regarding US intervention in Iran<\/a>.
He sidestepped a question about whether Tehran would be emboldened if the US backed away from launching strikes, telling reporters: \u201cSome people think that. Some people don\u2019t.\u201d
He said Iran should negotiate a \u201csatisfactory\u201d deal to prevent the country from getting any nuclear weapons, but said: \u201cI don\u2019t know that they will. But they are talking to us. Seriously talking to us.\u201d
The arrival of the flotilla has raised fears of a direct confrontation with Iran, which has warned it would respond with missile strikes on US bases, ships and allies \u2013 notably Israel \u2013 in the event of an attack.
On Sunday, Iranian state television reported that Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a>, had warned that any attack by the Americans would have far-reaching consequences.
\u201cThe Americans should know that if they start a war, this time it will be a regional war,\u201d Khamenei was quoted as saying. \u201cWe are not the instigators and we do not seek to attack any country. But the Iranian nation will deliver a firm blow to anyone who attacks or harasses it.\u201d
Asked about the warning, Trump told reporters on Sunday: \u201cOf course he is going to say that.
\u201cHopefully we\u2019ll make a deal. If we don\u2019t make a deal, then we\u2019ll find out whether or not he was right,\u201d he said.
A day earlier, Iran\u2019s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, had downplayed Tehran\u2019s interest in the conflict. \u201cThe Islamic republic of Iran has never sought, and in no way seeks, war and it is firmly convinced that a war would be in the interest of neither Iran nor the United States nor the region,\u201d he said in a call with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, according to the Iranian presidency.
Qatar said its prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, visited Tehran on Saturday and met Ali Larijani, the head of Iran\u2019s supreme national security council, regarding \u201cefforts to de-escalate tensions in the region\u201d.
Trump has previously said he believes Iran would rather make a deal over its nuclear and missile programmes than face US military action, and Tehran has said it is ready for nuclear talks<\/a> as long as its missiles and defence capabilities are not on the agenda.
\u201cContrary to the hype of the contrived media war, structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing,\u201d Larijani said, one day after the Kremlin said he had held talks in Moscow with Vladimir Putin.
The commander-in-chief of Iran\u2019s army, Amir Hatami, had earlier warned the US and Israel against any attack, saying his forces were \u201cat full defensive and military readiness\u201d to respond.
\u201cIf the enemy makes a mistake, without a doubt it will endanger its own security, the security of the region and the security of the Zionist regime,\u201d Hatami said, according to the official news agency IRNA. He said Iran\u2019s nuclear technology and expertise \u201ccannot be eliminated\u201d.
Iranian authorities rushed to deny that several incidents on Saturday were linked to any attack or sabotage, including an explosion in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas that local firefighters said was caused by a gas leak.
Iran has told ships it will conduct a live-fire drill on Sunday and Monday in the strait of Hormuz, a key transit hub for global energy supplies.
An Iranian official denied on Sunday that such a drill would take place, saying initial reports had been incorrect. \u201cThere was no plan for the Guards to hold military exercises there, and there was no official announcement about it. Only media reports which were wrong,\u201d they told Reuters.
The US Central Command had warned Tehran against \u201cany unsafe and unprofessional behaviour near US forces\u201d.
The statement drew criticism from Iran\u2019s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, who wrote on social media: \u201cOperating off our shores, the US military is now attempting to dictate how our Powerful Armed Forces should conduct target practice in their own turf.\u201d
The US designated Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation in 2019, and the EU did the same on Thursday<\/a>.
In response, the speaker of Iran\u2019s parliament, Mohammad \u2013 Baqer Qalibaf, said on Sunday that Tehran would now consider all EU militaries to be terrorist groups.
\u201cBy trying to hit the Revolutionary Guards \u2026 the Europeans actually shot themselves in the foot and once again made a decision against the interests of their people by blindly obeying the Americans,\u201d Qalibaf said.
He said the national security parliamentary commission would deliberate on the expulsion of EU countries\u2019 military attaches and follow up with the foreign ministry.
On Sunday, Khamenei compared the countrywide protests to a \u201ccoup\u201d, suggesting the government\u2019s position had hardened, as calls grew in Iran<\/a> for an independent inquiry into the number of people killed during the unrest.<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US naval battle group gathers off Iran\u2019s shores as supreme leader in Tehran warns attack would spark regional warDonald Trump has said Iran is talking to the US, hinting at a deal that would avoid the use of military strikes, as Iran\u2019s supreme leader warned that any attack by the US would spark a regional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":200939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-200938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}