DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Donald Trump sent a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, seeking a new deal with Tehran to restrain its rapidly advancing nuclear program and replace the agreement he withdrew America from in his first term in office.
Iranian state media immediately picked up on Trump's acknowledgment, given in excerpts from a Fox Business News interview aired on Friday, though there was no confirmation from Khamenei's office that any letter had been received. The interview airs in full on Sunday.
It remained unclear how the 85-year-old supreme leader would react, given that former President Barack Obama had kept his letters to Khamenei secret ahead of the start of negotiations that led to Tehran's 2015 deal with world powers.
In comments to reporters in the Oval Office later on Friday, Trump did not mention the letter directly but made a veiled reference, saying, “We have a situation with Iran that, something’s going to happen very soon. Very, very soon.”
“Hopefully we can have a peace deal,” Trump said. “I’m not speaking out of strength or weakness. I’m just saying I’d rather see a peace deal then the other. But the other will solve the problem.”
He's suggested that the alternative to a negotiated resolution would be the U.S. threatening to intervene military in Iran.
Trump's overture comes as both Israel and the United States have warned they will never let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon, leading to fears of a military confrontation as Tehran enriches uranium at near weapons-grade levels — something only sought by atomic-armed nations.
In the Fox Business interview, Trump said, “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.'" He said he'd sent the letter on Thursday.
Trump's outreach comes amid tensions
The White House confirmed that Trump's letter to Iran’s leaders is seeking to negotiate a nuclear deal. The president's comments in the Oval Office echoed his sentiments from the interview, which was taped on Thursday.
“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 in the interview. "But the time is happening now. The time is coming up. Something’s going to happen one way or the other.”
“I hope you’re going to negotiate because, it’s going to be a lot better for Iran and I think they want to get that letter," he added. "The other alternative is we have to do something because you can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump offered no details of what, if anything, was specifically offered to Iran in the letter.
The move recalled Trump's letter-writing to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his first term, which led to face-to-face meetings, but no deals to limit Pyongyang's atomic bombs and a missile program capable of reaching the continental U.S.
Iran long has maintained its program is for peaceful purposes, even as its officials increasingly threaten to pursue the bomb as tensions are high with the U.S. over its sanctions and with Israel as a shaky ceasefire holds in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Iran has yet to begin a weapons program, but has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.”
Since Trump returned to the White House, his administration has consistently said that Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons. A report last month, however, by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Iran has accelerated its production of near weapons-grade uranium.
Trump’s first term in office was marked by a particularly troubled period in relations with Tehran. In 2018, he unilaterally withdrew the United States from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, leading to sanctions hobbling Iran's economy. Iran retaliated with attacks at sea — including one that it likely carried out and that temporarily halved Saudi Arabia's oil production.
Trump also ordered the attack that killed Iran's top general in a Baghdad drone strike in January 2020.
Iran's enriched uranium stockpile surges
Under the original 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium only up to 3.67% purity and maintain a stockpile of uranium of 300 kilograms (661 pounds). The last report by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran's program put its stockpile at 8,294.4 kilograms (18,286 pounds) as it enriches a fraction of it to 60% purity.
Iran’s accelerated production of near weapons-grade uranium puts more pressure on Trump as he’s repeatedly said he’s open to negotiations with the Islamic Republic while also increasingly targeting Iran’s oil sales with sanctions as part of his reimposed “maximum pressure” policy.
Khamenei in a speech last August opened the door to talks with the U.S., saying there is “no harm” in engaging with the “enemy.” That came after Iran elected reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian in June, who campaigned on promises of an outreach to the West.
However, more recently the supreme leader tempered that, saying that negotiations with America “are not intelligent, wise or honorable,” after Trump floated nuclear talks with Tehran. Pezeshkian has followed suit, pledging to abide by Khamenei's orders.
Whether Khamenei would accept a letter remains in question. A previous attempt in 2019 for Trump to exchange a letter to Khamenei through the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saw the supreme leader declare: “I do not consider Trump personally worthy of exchanging any messages, nor do I have any response for him, and I never will.”
But it also remains unclear how Iran will handle further pressure. The Islamic Republic's currency, the rial, has dramatically fallen in value. Unemployment and underemployment remain rampant. Meanwhile, women have continued their defiance of laws on the mandatory headscarf, or hijab, and continue to go without the head-covering, two years after the death of a detained young woman, Mahsa Amini, sparked nationwide protests.
Israel and Iran also have traded direct attacks during the Israel-Hamas war, while partners in Tehran's self-described “Axis of Resistance” are reeling after the assassinations of their leaders by Israel. In Israel itself, officials have suggested striking Iran's nuclear program now, something Trump has threatened while still insisting he'd prefer reaching a diplomatic deal with Tehran.
Later Friday, Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York said it had not received any letter from Trump, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
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Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
Jon Gambrell And Will Weissert, The Associated Press
