President Donald Trump remains adamant that his administration will engage in ‘direct’ nuclear talks with Iran on Saturday in Oman, while Tehran appears to remain equally steadfast in its insistence the negotiations will be ‘indirect.’

Middle East envoy Stever Witkoff is scheduled to travel to Oman, where he could potentially be meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, though the Iranian official has so far maintained the talks will be held through a third party.

While it remains unclear who will get their way regarding the format of the discussions, Iran expert and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Behnam Ben Taleblu, said this public controversy between Washington and Tehran is all a game of leverage.

‘Both sides have an incentive to either overrepresent or underrepresent what is happening,’ he told Fox News Digital. ‘These are often the negotiations before the negotiations.’ 

‘For the White House, the desire to be seen as having direct talks with the Islamic Republic is high,’ he said, pointing to the lack of direct engagement between Washington and Tehran dating back to his first term and the regime’s deep disdain for the president, as witnessed in an apparent assassination attempt. 

While the Iranian government has long held contempt for the U.S., a sentiment that has persisted for decades, Trump is ‘very different,’ Ben Taleblu said.

The security expert highlighted the 2020 assassination of top Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the crippling effect of the U.S.-sanctioned maximum-pressure campaign and Trump’s open support for the Iranian people as the major issues that have rankled the Iranian regime.

‘Trump is a very bitter pill to swallow, and I think the supreme leader of Iran once said that the shoe of Qasem Soleimani has more honor than the head of Trump,’ Ben Taleblu said. ‘Being seen as directly negotiating with someone [like that] would be making the Islamic Republic look like a supplicant. 

‘The U.S. wants to be seen as having driven Iran to the negotiating table, and the Islamic Republic does not want to be seen as being driven to the negotiating table,’ he added. 

Tehran’s chief advantage is the fact that, despite severe U.S. sanctions and geopolitical attempts to halt its development of a nuclear weapon, it has made serious gains in its enrichment of uranium to near-weapons-grade quality, as well as with its missile program, a critical component in being able to actually fire a nuclear warhead.

It also has drastically closer ties with chief U.S. adversarial superpowers like Russia and China, whose position and involvement in countering Western attempts to disarm a nuclear Iran remains an unknown at this point. 

While Iran holds significant leverage when it comes to negotiating with the Trump administration on its nuclear program, Washington has a plethora of levers it can use to either incentivize or coerce Tehran into adhering to international calls for the end of its nuclear program.

‘The U.S. actually has a heck of a lot of leverage here,’ Ben Taleblu said, pointing to not only more economic sanctions, including ‘snapback’ mechanisms under the United Nations Security Council, but also military options.

Trump last month threatened to ‘bomb’ Iran if it did not engage in nuclear talks with the U.S.

But some have questioned how long the administration will allow negotiations to persist as JCPOA-era snapback sanctions expire in October 2025.

The White House would not confirm for Fox News Digital any time restrictions it has issued to Iran, but Trump on Wednesday told reporters, ‘We have a little time, but we don’t have much time.’

‘The regime has its back against the wall,’ Ben Taleblu said. ‘A military option, given what has been happening in the Middle East since Oct. 7, 2023, is an increasingly credible option against the Islamic Republic of Iran.’

‘And the regime is engaging, now, to delay and prevent a military option from ever materializing,’ he added. ‘They are hoping to use talks with the Americans as a human shield against the Israelis.’

‘So long as you’re talking to America, the Israelis aren’t shooting at you,’ Ben Taleblu continued. 

Trump this week said that it would be Israel who would take the lead on a military strike on Iran, not the U.S., should nuclear talks fail, which again could be a negotiating tactic as Israel has already demonstrated it will not hesitate to militarily engage with Iran.

‘Pursuing wholesale disarmament of the Islamic Republic of Iran is incredibly risky, and it doesn’t have a great track record of succeeding,’ Ben Taleblu said.

The Iranian expert said the only way to actually take on the Islamic Republic would be through a ‘broader’ and ‘more holistic’ strategy that focuses not only on nuclear nonproliferation but removing the ‘Axis of Resistance,’ scaling up sanctions and having a ‘ground game’ to counter the regime through cyber, political and telecommunication strategies ‘for when Iranians go out into the street and protest again.’

‘What the Islamic Republic would always want is to have you focus on the fire and not on the arsonist, and the arsonist is quite literally a regime that has tried to kill this president,’ Ben Taleblu said.

The Biden administration engaged in a ‘cover-up’ by failing to disclose details about the health of former president Joe Biden, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. 

‘I can tell you there was certainly a lack of transparency from the former president, from the entire former administration,’ Leavitt told reporters Friday. ‘And frankly, a lot of people in this room, when it came to the health in the competence of the former President of the United States, Joe Biden – there was one of the greatest cover-ups and, frankly, political scandals this nation has ever seen. It’s been unraveled in some recent books that are being written by journalists who engaged in that cover-up in scandal, which is quite ironic.’ 

A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

New books out have detailed Biden’s mental and physical well-being during his time in the White House. 

‘Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History,’ published Tuesday and authored by former producer for CBS’s 60 Minutes Chris Whipple, claims that the White House kept Biden from socializing with those who previously worked alongside him – a tactic that backfired and contributed to his declining mental agility. 

Leavitt’s remarks come as President Donald Trump is receiving an annual physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday. The White House says it will provide a readout of the appointment. 

‘But this president is clearly committed to transparency,’ Leavitt said. ‘You in this room see him and hear from him on a daily basis. You in this room know from covering him. It’s hard to keep up with him. He is a machine working around the clock every single day. And the physician, after today’s physical, will provide an update on the report in the effort of transparency.’

President Donald Trump is heading to get his annual physical on Friday after declaring earlier this week that he’s ‘never felt better.’ 

The 78-year-old announced the medical appointment on his Truth Social account, writing, ‘I am pleased to report that my long-scheduled Annual Physical Examination will be done at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Friday of this week.’

‘I have never felt better, but nevertheless, these things must be done!’ Trump added.

The president left the White House midday Friday to head to Bethesda, Maryland, for his physical. It comes less than a year after Trump survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania while on the campaign trail.

At the time, Trump released a letter from his former physician Ronny Jackson, who wrote that ‘it is an absolute miracle he wasn’t killed.’ 

‘The bullet passed, coming less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head, and struck the top of his right ear,’ Jackson added. 

Months later, in November, Florida neurosurgeon Dr. Brett Osborn told Fox News Digital that Trump remained in good health. 

‘The fact that he attended 120 events in seven months, often multiple rallies in a single day in different states, is proof-positive that Trump has a tremendous amount of stamina, mentally and physically,’ Osborn noted. 

But Democrats have disputed Trump’s health in the past, and members of the medical community have demanded Trump release his medical records. In an open letter from Oct. 13, over 230 doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals asked for a record release. 

The physical on Friday will be the first one of Trump’s second term in office. 

In 2020, during his first administration, Trump was treated for COVID-19 at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. 

Fox News’ Andrea Margolis contributed to this report. 

The Pentagon fired the commander at the U.S. Space Force base in Greenland after she distanced herself from Vice President J.D. Vance, who recently visited the headquarters. 

After the vice president’s visit, Col. Susannah Meyers emailed base personnel on March 31, writing, ‘I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the U.S. administration discussed by Vice President Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik Space Base.’

She added that she had ‘spent the weekend thinking about Friday’s visit – the actions taken, the words spoken, and how it must have affected each of you.’ The email was first reported by Military.com.

The Space Force said in a public statement Meyers had been relieved of command ‘due to loss of confidence in her ability to lead.’ 

‘Commanders are expected to adhere to the highest standards of conduct, especially as it relates to remaining nonpartisan in the performance of their duties,’ the statement read. 

Col. Shawn Lee has now assumed the command, Space Force said. 

‘Actions to undermine the chain of command or to subvert President Trump’s agenda will not be tolerated at the Department of Defense,’ Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell posted on X. 

Meyers became commander of the 821st Space Base Group in July, according to a Facebook post about the change-of-command ceremony. 

Republican Sens. Tommy Tuberville, Ala., Eric Schmitt, Mo., and Jim Banks, Ind., all praised the firing of the commander on X. 

‘Colonel Meyers tried to politicize the Space Force and was held accountable. Lloyd Austin isn’t SecDef anymore,’ Banks wrote. 

Vance, during his visit to the snow-covered island, criticized Denmark for treating Greenlanders as ‘second-class citizens.’ 

‘Our message to Denmark is very simple,’ Vance said. ‘You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security of this incredible, beautiful landmass.’

The vice president further accused Denmark of not keeping Greenland safe from China and Russia. 

Vance was the highest-ranking official to ever travel to the base in Pituffik, the White House said. 

The Trump administration has made acquiring Greenland a top goal. 

‘We need Greenland for national security and international security,’ Trump said on March 11. 

‘So, we’ll, I think, we’ll go as far as we have to go,’ the president continued, speaking from the Oval Office. ‘We need Greenland. And the world needs us to have Greenland, including Denmark. Denmark has to have us have Greenland. And, you know, we’ll see what happens. But if we don’t have Greenland, we can’t have great international security.’

‘I view it from a security standpoint, we have to be there,’ Trump added.

Republicans in Congress are launching a probe into a Biden-era green energy grant program that sent billions in funding to climate groups tied to Democrats and former President Joe Biden’s allies.

GOP leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to the eight nonprofits awarded grants from the $20 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), seeking answers to ensure the Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) followed proper ethics and conflict of interest protocols in distributing the funds.

In February, the Trump administration’s EPA announced it would take steps to get the money back, citing concerns over a lack of oversight related to how the money was being disbursed. In the announcement, new EPA administrator Lee Zeldin cited comments from a former Biden EPA political appointee, who described disbursements made through GGRF as akin to ‘tossing gold bars off the Titanic,’ because Biden officials were allegedly trying to get money out the door before Trump took over. 

It was also revealed that $2 billion from GGRF went to a Stacy Abrams-linked group, Power Forward Communities, which had not been established until after the Biden administration announced the GGRF application process. Meanwhile, during Power Forward’s first few months of operations — prior to receiving the funding — the group reported just $100 in revenue.

Climate United, another group that received the most money from the GGRF, roughly $7 billion, currently staffs a former Biden climate advisor who worked during the last two years of the former president’s term. The same group is also run by a CEO with ties to the Obama administration and a board member who was among those invited to Biden’s signing ceremony for his multitrillion-dollar infrastructure bill in 2021.  

Several GGRF grant recipients have ties to Democrats and Biden advisors, and some were reportedly founded shortly before or after the Biden administration announced the program. Meanwhile, these groups, according to Zeldin, had sole discretion on how to use the funds.

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., alongside fellow committee members Reps. Gary Palmer of Alabama and Morgan Griffith of Virginia, both Republicans, said in a joint statement that their investigation into the GGRF recipients will be ‘key’ to understanding whether these funds were allocated ‘fairly and impartially to qualified applicants,’ while also helping to determine the manner in which the money has been used. 

‘The Committee has had concerns about the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund program since its creation—including concerns about the program’s unusual structure, a potential lack of due diligence in selecting award recipients, and the recipients’ ability to manage the large influx of federal dollars they received from the EPA,’ the lawmakers said in their statement. 

‘A recent Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing that examined these concerns coupled with the speed with which money was pushed out the door by the Biden Administration’s EPA heightened the Committee’s concerns and raised additional questions about certain Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund recipients.’

Several of the groups that were recipients of GGRF money sued the Trump administration in March over its attempts to rake back the funds. 

Subsequently, Obama-appointed Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a temporary restraining order preventing the EPA from freezing $14 billion in GGRF funds awarded to three of the climate groups.

The Associate Press contributed to this report.

White House envoy Steve Witkoff was in Russia on Friday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin after peace talks with Ukraine stalled out in recent weeks, ‘frustrating’ President Donald Trump.

‘This is another step in the negotiating process towards a ceasefire,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said of the meeting. ‘I think the president has been quite clear that he’s been continually frustrated with both sides of this conflict, and he wants to see this fighting, and he wants the war to end.’

Russian media broadcast images of Putin and Witkoff meeting at the presidential library in St. Petersburg. 

Leavitt said the U.S. had ‘leverage’ over Ukraine and Russia to pressure them to agree to peace.

‘We believe we have leverage in negotiating a deal… And we’re going to use that leverage. And the president is determined to see this through,’ Leavitt said.

Trump has demanded that both sides agree to an immediate 30-day ceasefire while they hash out a longer peace deal. Ukraine has agreed to this, while Russia has not. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed Ukraine had found two Chinese men fighting on behalf of Russia within their borders, a development that would suggest Russia is receiving direct manpower aid from both North Korea and China. 

Zelenskyy said at least 155 Chinese citizens were fighting for Russia as he accused Putin of ‘prolonging the war’ — a claim the Kremlin denied Thursday, stating that China takes a ‘balanced position’ to the war and that ‘Zelenskyy is wrong.’ Fox News Digital has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense for further comment.   

Ahead of Witkoff’s meeting with Russian officials, Trump ramped up pressure on Putin, writing on Truth Social: ‘Russia has to get moving. Too many people are DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war – a war that should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were President!!!’

Trump said on March 31 that he was ‘pissed off’ with the Russian leader and threatened to put ‘secondary tariffs’ on Russia’s oil exports, its financial lifeline for the war effort. That could mean sanctioning countries that buy Russian oil or cracking down on its ‘shadow fleet’ of tankers carrying oil across the globe in disguise.

Trump has previously aired out complaints about Zelenskyy, too, calling him a ‘dictator without elections.’ A public White House meeting last month erupted into a near-shouting match where Zelenskyy abruptly left the premises. 

Ukraine agreed to both the unconditional ceasefire and a more tailored maritime ceasefire, but Russia has made a fresh round of demands, including the lifting of some sanctions. 

‘We are making progress. We hope that we are getting relatively close to getting a deal between Russia and Ukraine to stop the fighting,’ Trump said during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday. 

The U.S. and Russia carried out a prisoner exchange deal that saw the return of ballerina and U.S.-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina to the U.S. on Friday. Karelina was sentenced to 12 years in prison at the start of the war in 2022 for donating $51 to a Ukrainian charity. 

On Thursday, U.S. and Russian officials met in Istanbul to discuss reopening operations at each other’s embassies. 

The St. Petersburg gathering is Witkoff’s third meeting with Putin this year. Over the weekend he will head to Oman to negotiate with Iran in nuclear talks.

Ahead of Friday’s meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was ‘no need to expect breakthroughs’ and the ‘process of normalizing relations is ongoing.’

Reuters contributed to this report.

President Trump said on Friday that the first physical examination of his second term went well, and overall he feels he’s in ‘very good shape.’

The president told reporters on board Air Force One while en route to his home in West Palm Beach Friday evening that the yearly presidential physical at Walter Reed Medical Center showed he has a ‘good heart, a good soul,’ and ‘overall, I think I’m in very – I felt I was in very good shape.’ 

He also took a cognitive test.

‘I don’t know what to tell you other than I got every answer right,’ the president told reporters.

He added, ‘I think it’s a pretty well-known test. Got it all right. I’ve taken the cognitive test, I think, four times and gotten nothing wrong. That’s what the American people want. Biden refused, Kamala refused.’ 

He also said that doctors gave him ‘a little bit’ of advice on lifestyle changes that could improve his health without going into detail. 

Biden’s yearly presidential exam at Walter Reed last year didn’t include a cognitive test. 

The former president’s mental abilities became a concern during the presidential election last year after he struggled in a June debate against Trump, which led to former Vice President Kamala Harris taking over as the Democratic nominee. 

Trump said he expected the report from the exam to be released by Sunday. 

The president was at Walter Reed for five hours undergoing ‘every test you can imagine.’

‘I was there for a long time,’ Trump said. ‘I think I did very well.’

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday that a readout of the exam would be released ‘as soon as we possibly can.’

The White House earlier this week promised to release the full results of Trump’s examination. 

‘I have never felt better, but nevertheless, these things must be done!’ Trump wrote on Truth Social before the exam earlier this week. 

The exam was also his first presidential physical since his ear was grazed by a bullet during an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July. 

Both Biden and Trump’s health have come under increased scrutiny as they are the two oldest U.S. presidents to ever serve, and Trump became the oldest president to be sworn into office in January.