Already a subscriber? Make sure to log into your account before viewing this content. You can access your account by hitting the “login” button on the top right corner. Still unable to see the content after signing in? Make sure your card on file is up-to-date.

US and Iranian officials talked for three hours on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the first contact between the two sides since June.

Getting into it: President Trump said envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner represented the US and called it a “very good meeting, very productive meeting,” adding that another is scheduled in the near future. Iranian state television confirmed Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Witkoff, saying the US requested the meeting and that it was aimed at conveying Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which include the US lifting its naval blockade, unfreezing Iranian money, and an end to the fighting on every front. Accounts differ on how direct the contact was, with Witkoff describing mediators who “shuttled between the two sides throughout the day.”

“They successfully completed a round of discussions that we hope will prove constructive and promising. The mediators will continue their work,” Witkoff posted on X.

Hours earlier, in his General Assembly speech, Trump framed the choice in far starker terms. “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?” he said. “Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell?”

Most of Iran’s delegation walked out during the remarks. Iran’s General Staff of the Armed Forces called the threats evidence of “strategic weakness” and said it was ready to deliver “more severe, crushing, and unpredictable blows.”

Trump predicted a deal would come right after November’s midterms, while insisting the elections have nothing to do with it. “They are waiting to see how I do in the midterm elections. What they don’t realize is that I am not running,” he said. “It doesn’t even enter my mind. The only thing that does is that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”

This all comes as a senior Iranian official speaking to Reuters said Iran’s team came to New York cleared to negotiate, called the gathering a “golden opportunity” for the US to return to talks, and said the strait could be back open within a week if Trump backed off militarily and ended the blockade on Iran’s ports.