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Trump Says He Sent Letter to Iran Leader to Negotiate Nuclear Deal
US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office, on the day he signs executive orders, at the White House in Washington, DC, March 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US President Donald Trump said he wants to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran and sent a letter to its leadership this week suggesting talks with the Islamic Republic, which the West fears is rapidly nearing the capability to make atomic weapons.
“I said I hope you’re going to negotiate, because it’s going to be a lot better for Iran,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network broadcast on Friday.
“I think they want to get that letter. The other alternative is we have to do something, because you can’t let another nuclear weapon.”
Iran has not yet received the letter, Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said on Friday. There was no immediate response from the foreign ministry in Iran, where it is the weekend, to a request for comment on Trump’s remarks.
Iran’s Nour News, affiliated with the country’s top security body, dismissed Trump’s letter as a “repetitive show” by Washington.
Asked whether he had sent the letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s fiercely anti-Western Supreme Leader, Trump said, “Yes.”
“There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal,” Trump said. “I would prefer to make a deal, because I’m not looking to hurt Iran. They’re great people.”
In the interview, conducted on Thursday, Trump said he sent the letter “yesterday,” indicating Wednesday.
Western officials fear a nuclear-armed Iran could threaten Israel, Gulf Arab oil producers, and spark a regional arms race.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.
RUSSIAN OFFER TO MEDIATE
Trump has upended US foreign policy after taking office in January, adopting a more conciliatory stance towards Russia that has left Western allies wary as he tries to broker an end to Moscow’s three-year-old war in Ukraine.
Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, a multinational agreement that placed temporary restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, in 2018, a year into his first White House term.
Last month, Trump restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero. However, he also said he would like to make a deal with Tehran.
It is unclear how Trump’s overture to Iran would be received by US ally Israel, an arch foe of Tehran. Iran and Israel mounted military strikes on each other last April and October.
The Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately return a request for comment on Trump’s letter to Iran.
Russia has offered to mediate between the United States and Iran, a source briefed on discussions told Reuters on Tuesday, as the Kremlin vowed to do everything possible to facilitate a peaceful solution to tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov discussed international efforts to resolve the situation around Iran’s nuclear program with Iranian ambassador Kazem Jalali, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
Meanwhile, senior Russian missile specialists have visited Iran over the past year as the Islamic Republic has deepened its defense cooperation with Moscow, a Reuters review of travel records and employment data indicates.
SANCTIONS AND DIPLOMACY
After Trump quit the nuclear agreement in 2018, Iran began moving away from its nuclear-related commitments under the 2015 deal between Iran and key world powers, which lifted sanctions on Iran in return for restrictions on its nuclear program.
After taking office in January, Trump also directed his UN ambassador to work with allies to “complete the snapback of international sanctions and restrictions on Iran.”
Britain, France, and Germany told the United Nations Security Council in December that they are ready – if necessary – to trigger the restoration of all the international sanctions to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
It was not the first time a US president has communicated with Iranian leaders. Under Iranian law, the supreme leader, not the president, has the last say on key state matters like Iran’s foreign policy and the nuclear program.
When US President Barack Obama took office in 2009, he offered Khamenei direct engagement – provided Iran was serious about ending concerns over its nuclear program. Obama twice wrote directly to Khamenei, in 2009 and again in 2012.
Iranian officials in 2014 acknowledged that Tehran had replied to previous letters from Obama, though it was not clear who specifically had responded.
Iran confirmed in 2013 that President Hassan Rouhani had exchanged letters with Obama, confirming a rare contact between leaders of the two nations.
The United States and Iran cut diplomatic relations in 1980, after students and Islamic militants stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and took American diplomats hostage.
The full Trump interview will air over the weekend on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
The post Trump Says He Sent Letter to Iran Leader to Negotiate Nuclear Deal first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: IDF Probes Whether Houthis Used Iranian Cluster Bomb-Bearing Missile
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Israeli military said Saturday it launched a probe into the failure of its defenses to fully intercept a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi jihadists, parts of which struck not far from the Ben Gurion airport on Friday night.
According to the Ynet website, one of the hypotheses being examined is that the projectile contained cluster munitions, similar to those used by Iran to fire at Israeli cities during the 12-day war in June. Cluster munitions pose a challenge to interceptors as they disperse smaller explosives over a wide area.
In June, Iran fired several missiles carrying scattered small bombs with the aim of increasing civilian casualties.
The IDF said on Saturday that its initial review suggests the ballistic missile from Yemen likely fragmented in mid-air. Five interceptors from various systems engaged with the missile, including THAAD, Arrow, David Sling & Iron Dome.
Authorities said that shrapnel impacted a house in the central Israeli moshav of Ginaton, yet no one was hurt, with the fragment landing in the house’s backyard.
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Iran Forces Kill Six Militants, IRNA Reports, Israel Link Seen
The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian security forces shot dead six militants in a clash in southeastern Iran on Saturday, a day after armed rebels killed five police officers in the restive region, the official news agency IRNA reported.
IRNA said evidence showed the group was linked to Israel and may have been trained by Israel‘s Mossad spy agency. There was no immediate Israeli reaction to the allegation.
Another two members of the militant group were arrested, the report said. All but one of the militants were foreign, it added, without giving their nationality.
Iranian police said this month they had arrested as many as 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war with Israel in June.
Iran’s southeast has been the scene of sporadic clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy.
Tehran says some of them have ties to foreign powers and are involved in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.
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Benny Gantz Urges Time-Limited National Unity Government to Further Chances of Hostage Deal
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz attends his party’s meeting at the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz on Saturday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition politicians to form a temporary national unity government to further the chances of bringing home the hostages held in Gaza.
Addressing Netanyahu, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman, Gantz said that the proposed government’s two supreme priorities would be the release of Israeli hostages held by the jihadists of Hamas and instituting universal conscription in Israel by ending the exemption from military service enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox.
Upon attainment of the goals, the government would dissolve and call an election.
“The government’s term will begin with a hostage deal that brings everyone home,” Gantz said in a video address. “Within weeks, we will formulate an enlistment outline that would see our ultra-Orthodox brethren drafted to the military and ease the burden on those already serving. Finally, we will announce an agreed-upon election date in the spring of 2026 and pass a law to dissolve the Knesset [Israeli parliament] accordingly. This is what’s right for Israel.”