(JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened the Security Cabinet on Thursday afternoon to discuss the deepening Iran crisis as nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran appear to be back on for Friday.

The meeting in Jerusalem was scheduled for 4 p.m.

Trump: Khamenei ‘should be very worried’

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “should be very worried,” when asked by “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Llamas in an exclusive pre-Super Bowl interview whether the clerical ruler has reason to be concerned.

“As you know, they’re negotiating with us,” Trump continued. Llamas then pressed the president on his commitment to help the Iranian protesters.

“We’ve had their back and look, that country’s a mess right now because of us. We went in, we wiped out their nuclear [sites]. So if I didn’t take out, you know, we want peace in the Middle East, if I didn’t take out their nuclear [sites], think of it, if we didn’t take out their nuclear [sites], we wouldn’t have had peace in the Middle East, because the Arab countries could have never done that,” the president said. “They were very, very afraid of Iran. They’re not afraid of Iran anymore.”

He said that the American bombing operation in June “obliterated” the targets, asserting that the regime in Tehran was “going to have a nuclear weapon within one month …, [and] they’re not going to have it anymore.”

If the Islamic Republic restarts its nuclear weapons program, Trump vowed to send US bombers “right back and do their job again.”

The Iranians “tried to go back to the site, they weren’t even able to get near it. It was total obliteration, but they were thinking about starting a new site in a different part of the country. We found out about it. You do that, we’re going to do things to you,” Trump said.

Trump is scheduled to “make an announcement” at 7 p.m. Washington time Thursday in the South Court Auditorium at the White House, according to the official public schedule, with coverage by the White House press pool.

US-Iran nuclear talks back on

US-Iran nuclear talks set for Friday are back on after several Middle Eastern leaders urged the Trump administration not to walk away from the meeting, two American officials told Axios on Wednesday.

The talks are now scheduled to take place in Muscat, Oman, at Iran’s request, after Washington initially resisted Tehran’s push to shift the venue from Istanbul and change the format to bilateral talks focused solely on the nuclear file, Axios reported.

Regional leaders warned that canceling the talks could increase the risk that Trump would pivot to military action, and at least nine countries in the region appealed directly to the White House, according to Axios.

Trump has positioned US naval and other assets in the Middle East region amid the escalating tensions with Iran.

In Tehran, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Hossein Daghighi sharpened the regime’s rhetoric, saying on Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen TV on Wednesday that Iran’s “main goal is to drive America out of all countries of the region,” according to a translation by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute.

The former top adviser to the IRGC commander-in-chief also warned that if the US attacks Iran, “our first target would be the Zionist entity,” referring to Israel, along with American bases across the Middle East. He added that Washington had “returned to negotiations out of fear of the Iranian people’s capabilities.”

One US official said Arab partners asked Washington “to keep the meeting and listen to what the Iranians have to say,” while another said the administration agreed to proceed “to be respectful” to its allies and to keep pursuing diplomacy.

Under the original plan, the United States and Iran were to meet in Istanbul with other Middle Eastern countries participating as observers and addressing broader issues such as the regime’s ballistic missiles program, support for regional terrorist proxy groups and human rights violations following the regime’s deadly crackdown on nationwide protests.

For now, only direct US-Iran talks on nuclear issues are planned in Oman, Axios reported.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X that the talks were “scheduled to be held in Muscat at about 10 a.m. Friday” and thanked Oman for hosting the session.

White House Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff met on Tuesday in Israel with Netanyahu and senior defense officials to coordinate positions ahead of the talks. Israeli officials told Axios Netanyahu stressed that Iran cannot be trusted and shared updated intelligence on its activities.

Witkoff and Trump adviser Jared Kushner are expected to travel to Qatar on Thursday for consultations on Iran before heading to Oman for the meeting with Iranian officials, Axios reported.

Despite the decision to go ahead with the talks, US officials quoted by Axios said they remain skeptical a breakthrough is possible, citing Tehran’s recent behavior and the lack of progress in previous rounds. “We are not naive about the Iranians,” one official said, adding that Washington would engage in “a real conversation” if possible but was not prepared to “waste our time.”

Vance: ‘Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon’

US Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” telling American journalist Megyn Kelly on her eponymous news and political podcast and radio program that this is the president’s “stated policy goal.”

Trump will “keep his options open” and “talk to everybody,” according to Vance. “He’s going to try to accomplish what he can through nonmilitary means, and if he feels like the military is the only option, then he’s ultimately going to choose that option.”

The vice president addressed concerns about previous American adventures in the Middle East, particularly the “quagmire” of the Iraq War, aka the 2003-11 Second Gulf War, stressing that “we know the history, and the president has no interest in repeating the history of Iraq. What he does want to make sure, is that there is a totally separate issue, which is you don’t let crazy people get nuclear weapons and then lead to a nuclear arms race all over the world.”

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