The President warned “something is going to happen very soon.”
President Donald Trump says he sent Iran a letter calling for the two countries to negotiate an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. During his first term, Trump withdrew from a deal with Iran that limited and inspected Tehran’s nuclear energy program.
In a clip of an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that was released on Friday, Trump said that he sent the Iranian letter calling for new negotiations, but suggested a war could break out if an agreement isn’t reached.
“I would rather negotiate a deal. I’m not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily,” Trump said. “But the time is happening now, the time is coming up. Something is going to happen one way or the other. I hope that Iran, and I’ve written them a letter, saying I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily it’s going to be a terrible thing for them.”
He added, “There are two ways Iran can be handled, militarily or you make a deal. I would prefer to make a deal.” The full interview with Bartiromo will air Sunday. Iranian diplomats at the UN said they have not received the letter that Trump claimed was sent on Wednesday.
Trump has said there is an urgent need to address the Iran nuclear issue. However, as recently as January, the US intelligence community did not believe Iran had decided to weaponize its civilian nuclear program.
Even if the letter was sent, Tehran may not be receptive to talks with Washington. Iran and the US had a nuclear deal that Tehran was complying with before Trump abandoned the agreement and reimposed sanctions on Iran in 2018.
In February, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei discussed the issue explaining, During the Barack Obama presidency, “we sat down and negotiated with the US for about two years, and an agreement was formed. In this agreement, the Iranian side was very generous and gave many concessions to the other side.”
“But the US did not carry out that agreement. The same person who is now in office tore up that agreement. We must learn from this experience.” He continued, “One must not negotiate with a government like the US government. Negotiating with it is not wise, it is not intelligent, and is not honorable.”
The Ayatollah stopped short of ruling out talks with the US.
Last month, Trump signed an executive order calling for more sanctions on Tehran to “drive Iran’s export of oil to zero.” At the time, he said he was “not happy” with signing the order.
Reprint from Antiwar.com
