By Laura Sharman, Kevin Liptak, CNN
(CNN) — US President Donald Trump warned Iran’s supreme leader should be “very worried,” as both sides prepare for their first formal negotiations since the US bombed Tehran’s nuclear program last year.
Tensions between the two countries have escalated sharply in recent weeks following a deadly crackdown by Iranian security forces on nationwide anti-government protesters that prompted Trump to send a US military “armada” to the region and threaten to launch strikes.
Iran’s military has warned that any attack would be met with an immediate and decisive response, including strikes on US forces and assets in the region.
“I would say he (supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) should be very worried. Yeah, he should be,” Trump told NBC News in an interview on Wednesday.
Trump, who first threatened strikes against Iran during its clampdown on street protests last month, said his actions have supported the demonstrators, despite stopping short of direct action.
The high-stakes talks are scheduled to take place on Friday in the Omani capital Muscat and will involve Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, according to Iran’s state-affiliated Tasnim news agency.
But both sides appear to have different agendas.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that the Trump administration wants negotiations to focus on not only Iran’s nuclear program, but also “the range of their ballistic missiles,” “their sponsorship of terrorist organizations across the region,” and “the treatment of their own people.”
Citing Iran’s foreign ministry, Tasnim has reported negotiations will be limited to Iran’s nuclear program and the lifting of sanctions as the country’s “primary demand.”
Iran and the US held several rounds of indirect nuclear talks in April and May 2025 before a surprise mid-June Israeli strike on Iran led to the cancellation of further talks. That was followed days later by the US strike on Iran, which effectively ended the process.
“If we didn’t take out that nuclear, we wouldn’t have peace in the Middle East, because the Arab countries could have never done that,” Trump said in the NBC News interview.
“They were very, very afraid of Iran. They’re not afraid of Iran anymore,” he said.
Trump also said he had been informed that Iran was looking to revive its nuclear program at alternative sites.
“They tried to go back to the site. They weren’t even able to get near it,” he said.
“There was total obliteration. But they were thinking about starting a new site in a different part of the country. We found out about it. I said, you do that, we’re going to do bad things to you.”
As tensions simmer, neighboring countries have been mediating between the two sides to avert a war, noting that any conflict could spread and destabilize the Middle East.
On Tuesday, a US aircraft carrier shot down an Iranian drone that “aggressively approached” the ship in the Arabian Sea, according to the US military.
Hours later, two gunboats operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps approached a US-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to board and seize the ship, said Capt. Tim Hawkins, spokesperson for US Central Command.
Trump first threatened possible military action last month as mass anti-government protests swept Iran and a nearly three-week nationwide internet blackout took hold, with Iranians shouting slogans against the ruling theocratic regime.
Internet connectivity has been partially restored, but