Trump says talks with Iran were good

President Donald Trump said Friday that talks between Iran and the United States had gone well and would continue early next week, in comments that mirrored those of Iran’s foreign minister, who told state media that the negotiations were off to a “good start.”

Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he headed to Palm Beach, Florida, said the administration was in “no rush” to make a deal with Iran. Using his actions in Venezuela as an example, he said, “We waited around for a while.”

Iran wants “to make a deal, as they should want to make a deal,” Trump said, adding that if the country did not reach an agreement the “consequences would be steep.” Describing the terms of a potential deal, Trump said Iran would have to agree to “no nuclear weapons.”

The foreign minister of Iran, Abbas Araghchi, said earlier Friday that the talks, which took place in Oman, had been “exclusively nuclear.”

Iran’s nuclear program had been expected to be part of the discussions. But before the talks began, U.S. officials had said they also needed to include Iran’s ballistic missiles and its support for militant groups across the Middle East.

Araghchi seemed to rule that out. “We are not discussing any other issues with the Americans,” he told Iran’s official news agency, IRNA.

The negotiations, mediated by Omani officials, were the first between the United States and Iran since they went to war in June, and they were an effort to stave off another conflict.

The negotiations “can continue well,” Araghchi told Iranian state broadcasters. He said that a “lack of trust” between the two sides had to be “overcome,” adding, “Then we can define a framework for new talks.” Aragchi said the timing, location and format of the next discussions would be decided later.

Iranian news media reported that there had been several rounds of talks mediated by Oman’s Foreign Minister, Sayyid Badr al Busaidi, who also met with both delegations separately. He later said on social media that the aim was to “reconvene in due course.”

“It was useful to clarify both Iranian and American thinking and identify areas for possible progress,” Sayyid Badr said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.