US President insists Iran 'will not have a nuclear weapon' as negotiations stall
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US President Donald Trump holds press conference after shooting at White House Correspondents' Dinner.
US President Donald Trump said Saturday he would give a press conference from the White House press briefing room, shortly after a shooting incident at a gala dinner in Washington.
The press conference is set to take place shortly after 10 p.m. (0200 GMT), Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding: "The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition."
Shots were fired as US President Donald Trump attended a press dinner in Washington on Saturday night, witnesses and AFP reporters confirmed.
Loud bangs were heard and guests at the black-tie White House Correspondents' Dinner scrambled to hide under tables.
Tactical teams with guns drawn took position on the stage where Trump had been sitting before he was evacuated.
Police swarmed the Washington Hilton Hotel where the event was taking place, and helicopters hovered overhead.
The pool report said the alleged shooter was in custody, citing the Secret Service.
Amid the stalled negotiations with Iran, the US President said the Iranians sent over a new peace proposal, but that it “could have been better,” and rejected it.
“They gave us a paper that could have been better, and interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it, within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better,” Trump said to reporters on Saturday before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington from Florida.
The President wouldn’t offer specifics about what was in the latest proposal other than saying “they offered a lot.” But he stressed that one of his conditions is that Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump said he cancelled the latest rounds of negotiations with Iran because it was “a lot of travelling” and because his negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, “weren’t meeting with the leader of the country.”
Trump said the US will “deal by telephone and they can call us anytime they want” before adding that “we have all the cards.”
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke by phone on Saturday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, holding what he described as a “warm and constructive discussion” on the evolving regional situation.
In a post on X, Sharif said he appreciated Iran’s continued engagement, including the dispatch of a high-level delegation to Islamabad led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
He added that, with the support of friends and partners, Pakistan remains committed to serving as an “honest and sincere facilitator” to advance durable peace and lasting stability in the region.
The statement by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office follows a string of rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah on northern Israel and on Israeli ground troops in southern Lebanon on Saturday. There were no injuries.
Also on Saturday, Israel launched multiple airstrikes in southern Lebanon while a fragile temporary ceasefire was in effect, killing at least six people it said were Hezbollah militants.
Netanyahu has instructed the army “to vigorously attack Hezbollah targets in Lebanon,” the statement said, without providing further detail.
Abbas Aragchi has arrived in the capital, Muscat. He’s expected to meet about regional developments. Oman was a mediator for indirect talks before the war.
Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes on Saturday in the country's south killed six people, despite a ceasefire that was extended this week in the war between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
"Two Israeli enemy strikes, on a truck and a motorbike, in the town of Yohmor Al Shaqeef in the Nabatieh district killed four people," a ministry statement said.
It later reported that an "Israeli enemy airstrike on the town of Safad Al Battikh, in the Bint Jbeil district, resulted in two fatalities and 17 injuries".
Israel's military said it "eliminated" three Hezbollah operatives on Saturday who were driving "a vehicle loaded with weapons", as well as another one riding a motorcycle, and two more armed members of the group elsewhere.
It also said it identified two projectiles launched from Lebanon, decrying "a blatant violation of the ceasefire understandings" by Hezbollah, and later intercepted another "suspicious aerial target".
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday that controlling the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint for global oil and gas supplies, was Tehran's "definitive strategy" in its conflict with the United States.
"Controlling the Strait of Hormuz and maintaining the shadow of its deterrent effects over America and the White House's supporters in the region is the definitive strategy of Islamic Iran," the Guards said in a statement on their official Telegram channel.
US President Donald Trump said Saturday it was unclear who was running Iran as he canceled his envoys' trip to Pakistan for negotiations towards ending the war.
"There is tremendous infighting and confusion within their 'leadership.' Nobody knows who is in charge, including them," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Foreign Minister, said today’s trip to Pakistan was “very fruitful,” praising Islamabad’s “good offices and brotherly efforts” to help restore peace in the region.
“Very fruitful visit to Pakistan, whose good offices and brotherly efforts to bring back peace to our region we very much value,” Araghchi wrote on X.
Araghchi added that he shared Tehran’s position on a “workable framework” to permanently end the war on Iran, stressing that any resolution must go beyond a temporary ceasefire. He also voiced caution over Washington’s intentions, noting that it remains unclear whether the United States is genuinely committed to diplomacy.
