The letter proposes creating a new framework to curb Iran’s ability to create Iran’s nuclear weapons following Trump’s 2018 decision to close previous deals.
President Donald Trump is calling for negotiating a new nuclear deal with Iran to replace those withdrawn during his first term in office.
Speaking to a White House reporter on March 7, Trump said the administration’s assessment of the situation between the US and Iran is in a “final moment,” suggesting there could be trade in Iran’s oil and military action.
“There are some interesting days. That’s all I can say to you. You know, we’re on the final stroke with Iran… (we) can’t have them with nuclear weapons,” Trump said.
“They have a lot of nice oil wells, right? Anyway, that’s going to be a big deal. It’s an interesting time in the history of the world, but there’s a situation with Iran and something will happen soon.”
Trump wrote this week to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei to create a new framework that will curb Tehran’s ability to move forward quickly in the nuclear program, but there has yet to be an official confirmation that Khamenei has received the letter.
Trump confirmed the letter this week in a segment of interview given to Fox Business News, but this has not been released in full.
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“I wrote to them, ‘If you have to go militarily, it’s going to be awful, so I hope you negotiate,” Trump said.
“It’s much better for Iran, so I hope they’ll negotiate. They want to get that letter,” Trump added. “The other option is that you can’t have nuclear weapons, so you have to do something.”
There are concerns that the administration will accelerate the creation of nuclear warheads and will be able to equip missiles within a short period of time.
Since Trump returned to the White House, his administration has consistently said Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons. However, last month, a report by the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran had accelerated production of uranium, which is close to weapons.
According to a report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has around 605 pounds of uranium enriched at a 60% threshold.
Its purity is a short technical step as it converts it to the 90% required for nuclear weapons. Additionally, the 605 pound mark has increased Iran’s enriched uranium level by about 40% since August last year.
The report suggests that approximately 92.5 pounds of enriched uranium is required at that level to produce nuclear warheads, and that if Tehran chooses it in that way, it can now produce around half a dozen such weapons.
Trump and Khamenei’s relationship has been strained for years following the assassination of top Iranian generals in 2020 when US leaders withdrew from previous nuclear deals.
“The Americans didn’t support the end of the deal,” Khamenei said. “The very person in office today tore the contract apart. He said he would, and he did.”
The White House confirmed Trump’s comments this week about the letter to Khamenei, saying it had sent a letter to Iranian leaders asking for nuclear deal negotiations.
“I would rather negotiate a deal,” Trump said in an interview with Fox. “I don’t know if anyone agrees with me, but we can make a deal that will be good as if you won militaryly. But now is the time, the time is coming. Something will happen in some way.”
Iran officially argues that its nuclear program is a peaceful purpose. Still, Tehran’s leaders openly threatened to pursue nuclear weapons for the high tensions associated with Washington’s sanctions regime and the fight in Jerusalem with Iran-backed agents in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen.
It is still unclear whether there is a desire to trade in Tehran.
In a speech last August, Khamenei said that involvement with the “enemy” was “no harm.”
However, he recently returned to these comments, saying that negotiations with the US are “not intelligent, wise or honorable.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
