Trump warns of ‘bad situation’ after Iran rejects direct nuclear talks
President Masoud Pezeshkian’s rejection was Tehran’s first response to a letter the US president sent to the country’s supreme leader.
Donald Trump has warned of a “bad situation” after Iran’s president rejected direct negotiations with the US over its advancing nuclear programme.
President Masoud Pezeshkian’s rejection, which left open the possibility of indirect negotiations with Washington, was Tehran’s first response to a letter the US president sent to the country’s supreme leader via Oman.
“We’ll see if we can get something done,” Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he returned from Florida to Washington on Sunday. “And if not, it’s going to be a bad situation.
“I would prefer a deal to the other alternative which I think everybody in this plane knows what that is, and that’s never going to be pretty,” he said.
Mr Trump said before Mr Pezeshkian’s comments that he was considering military action and secondary tariffs if Iran does not agree to a nuclear deal.
“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing and it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before,” Mr Trump said in a comment aired on Sunday by NBC News.
Mr Trump’s letter arrived in Tehran on March 12, but he has offered little detail on what he told the supreme leader.
Talks between the two countries have made no progress since Mr Trump, in his first term, unilaterally withdrew the US from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.
Regional tensions have since boiled over into attacks at sea and on land. Then came the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, which saw Israel target militant group leaders across Iran’s self-described Axis of Resistance.
Now, as the US conducts intense air strikes targeting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, the risk of military action targeting Iran’s nuclear programme remains on the table.
“We don’t avoid talks; it’s the breach of promises that has caused issues for us so far,” Mr Pezeshkian said in televised remarks during a cabinet meeting. “They must prove that they can build trust.”
The US State Department responded: “President Trump has been clear: the United States cannot allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
“The president expressed his willingness to discuss a deal with Iran. If the Iranian regime does not want a deal, the president is clear, he will pursue other options, which will be very bad for Iran.”
Mr Pezeshkian was elected half a year ago after campaigning on a promise to re-engage with the West.
Since Mr Trump’s election and the resumption of his “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran, Iran’s rial currency has gone into freefall. Mr Pezeshkian had left open discussions until February when Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Mr Trump talks “are not intelligent, wise or honourable” with his administration.
The Iranian president then immediately toughened his own remarks on the US.
Videos from Quds, or Jerusalem, Day demonstrations on Friday had people in the crowds instructing participants to only shout: “Death to Israel!” Typically, “Death to America” was also heard.
A video of an underground missile base unveiled by Iran’s hardline paramilitary Revolutionary Guard also showed its troops stepping on an Israeli flag painted on the ground — although there was no American flag as often seen in such propaganda videos.
