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Donald Trump has sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader urging him to reach a deal with the US on its nuclear programme.
“I’ve written them a letter saying I hope you negotiate, because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them,” the president said in an interview that aired on Fox Business Network on Friday. He added that the message was written on Thursday.
Since returning to office, Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to negotiate with Iran but the letter marks one of the most concrete public steps his administration has taken to begin the process.
He announced last month that he was reimposing his so-called “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, including by imposing sanctions on an international network shipping Iranian oil to China.
Trump has tapped his special envoy Steve Witkoff to handle the Iran file, and his team has begun working on the issue, according to people familiar with the matter.
The president told Fox Business that while he was not ruling out a military intervention, he 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,” he said.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, on Friday said Tehran would not engage in negotiations with the US as long as Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy remained in place.
Speaking in Saudi Arabia, he added that Iran’s pursuit of nuclear technology ensured that it could not be militarily dismantled and warned that any Israeli military action against his country could escalate into a broader regional conflict.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian swept to power last summer on promises to negotiate a new deal with the US and other global powers, similar to the 2015 nuclear agreement that Trump abandoned in 2018 before launching his “maximum pressure” policy and imposing hundreds of sanctions.
However, Trump’s recent executive order and reinstatement of the policy prompted Iran’s supreme leader and ultimate decision maker, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to immediately rule out any talks with his new administration.
Iranian leaders have said they will not compromise on their defence and regional policies, even with the risk of Israeli or US attacks on their nuclear sites, fearing that Washington’s ultimate aim in any deal is the overthrow of the Islamic republic.
However, reformist politicians hope that if Trump limits his demands to the nuclear issue, they might persuade Khamenei to allow negotiations to go ahead.
Pezeshkian reiterated last week that he believed talks with the US were the “better” option but that he would abide by Khamenei’s directive.
Trump has suggested he is not seeking regime change but has vowed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons at any cost.
Iranian leaders have repeatedly asserted that nuclear weapons violate Islamic teachings, with Khamenei issuing a religious decree prohibiting them. Meanwhile, some senior figures have suggested that a shift in Iran’s nuclear doctrine is not impossible should the republic face an existential threat.
Nonetheless, Iranian diplomats uphold the supreme leader’s decree and argue that negotiations under “maximum pressure” are impossible.
“Trump should freeze his pressure campaign for at least a few months to show goodwill and drop his focus on missiles,” said a business consultant in Tehran. “Otherwise, nobody can support talks with the US.”
Additional reporting by Steff Chávez in Washington
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