"Additional Talks with Iran This Week"... Will the Gap Narrow?

[Anchor]

U.S. President Donald Trump, who rejected Iran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, has kept the door open for negotiations by mentioning the possibility of additional talks with Iran. The talks are expected to take place this week.

Here is a report from Washington correspondent Jeon Byeong-nam.

[Reporter]

U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he plans to hold additional talks with Iran.

In an interview with the U.S. online media outlet Axios, Trump said, "I expect there will be additional negotiations with Iran within this week," adding, "It's because Iran wants to make a deal."

Reiterating that oil prices will drop once the war with Iran ends, Trump also continued to leave open the possibility of resuming airstrikes.

[Donald Trump / U.S. President: As soon as Iran surrenders and the war ends, oil prices will plummet. That will happen soon. Last night, we extracted a record amount of oil from Hormuz, more than before the war.]

Earlier on the 26th local time, Trump rejected Iran's so-called "7-day plan" proposal, in which Iran offered to open Hormuz within 7 days and engage in nuclear negotiations on the condition of ending hostilities on all fronts and lifting the U.S. maritime blockade.

At the time, Trump stated that while he also "likes making deals, I cannot accept that proposal." This is interpreted as an intention to manage the situation regarding Iran while keeping the door to negotiations open.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also left room for a diplomatic resolution, saying, "I heard that Trump rejected the '7-day plan' proposal, but we are still waiting for an official response."

[Abbas Araghchi / Iranian Foreign Minister (NBC Interview): While there may be no reason for us to return to diplomacy, we are still attempting a diplomatic resolution because we believe no opportunity for peace should be missed.]

Negotiations between the U.S. and Iran are expected to take place as early as the 28th local time. However, whether the gap will narrow remains uncertain, as Iran pushes for the lifting of the U.S. maritime blockade while the U.S. demands nuclear-related concessions from Iran.

Meanwhile, various interpretations are emerging over the omission of a reference to "North Korea's denuclearization" in the White House briefing materials for the U.S.-China summit.

Amid interpretations that the term "denuclearization" may have been intentionally omitted to resume North Korea-U.S. dialogue, attention continues to focus on whether President Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for assistance regarding the matter.

(Video reporting: Park Eun-ha, Video editing: Jung Sung-hoon, Design: Shim Su-hyun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.