Trump said he wrote to Iranian leaders seeking nuclear talks, but Iran said sanctions were not negotiated
President Trump said he wrote to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who expressed his hope to negotiate the country’s forward nuclear plan. He made the announcement in an interview with Fox Business News, which Fox said was recorded this week. Trump said in an interview that he sent the letter “yesterday”, but the exact timing is unclear.
“I would rather negotiate a deal. I’m not sure everyone agrees with me, but we can make a deal that is as good as the one you win in the military,” Fox said. ”
“But now is the time. Time is up,” Mr. Trump said. “Things will happen one way or another. I hope Iran – I wrote him a letter saying, ‘I hope you’re going to negotiate.’ Because if we have to go in the military, it will be a terrible thing – for them.”
Trump said in the interview that he believed Iran wanted to “get that letter”, adding: “The other option is, we have to do something. Because you can’t get them nuclear weapons.”
Iranian state-run media said on Friday that Mr. Trump had not received any letters, Foreign Secretary Abbas Araghchi told French news agency AFP on Friday that Iran would not negotiate with the United States, while strict U.S. sanctions on the country remained in place.
An International Atomic Energy Agency report last month said Iran “significantly increased production and accumulation of highly enriched uranium”, a development of the country’s nuclear program since Mr. Trump’s election.
In 2018, during Mr. Trump’s first term, he unilaterally withdrew the United States from a deal with Iran and other world powers aimed at curbing the country’s nuclear program. Trump imposed extensive new sanctions on Iran at the time, saying it was a “maximum pressure” policy that forced Tehran to pursue a new deal. The policy weakened Iran’s economy, but no new negotiations have been held between the two sides since then.
Under the original nuclear agreement, Iran was allowed to be rich in purity up to 3.67% and maintain no more than 661 pounds of storage at that level. Therefore, uranium can be used for medical, research and other civilian purposes, but cannot be used to build nuclear weapons.
The IAEA’s recent report found that Iran enriches more uranium to 60% purity—near the level required for weapons, about 90%, and after Trump pulled the United States out of the nuclear deal, it was only confirmed that it was confirmed to start enriching. It has increased to about 606 pounds in enriched uranium in February, according to an IAEA report.
Iran has long insisted that its nuclear program is a totally peaceful purpose, as tensions continue to be closely linked to U.S. sanctions and Israel in the war with Iran-backed, U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas.
Last August, Khamenei said there was no “harm” in engaging with the United States, but recently he said the negotiations would not be “smart, wise or glorious.”
Seyed Bathaei contributed to the report.
