Trump says he sent a message to Iranian leaders urging negotiations, but Tehran says he has not received the letter.
Iran says it has yet to receive a letter from President Donald Trump after the US leader said he sent one person to talk with the country’s leader about the nuclear program.
“We have not received letters like this before,” a spokesman for the Iranian embassy said Friday.
The comments come after Trump said he had sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragut has rejected the prospect of nuclear negotiations with the US if Tehran remains under severe sanctions from Washington.
“As long as they continue their biggest pressure policies and threats, we will not enter into direct negotiations with the US,” Araghchi told AFP News.
Since taking office in January, Trump’s administration has imposed sanctions on Iran, including the country’s oil network, as part of his “maximum pressure” strategy.
Iranian state media quickly featured Trump’s comments given in part in an interview with Fox Business News on Friday, but there was no confirmation that a letter from Khamenei’s office had been received. The interview is expected to air fully on Sunday.
It remains unclear how the 85-year-old supreme leader would respond, given that former President Barack Obama held his letter to a secret to Khamenei before the start of negotiations that led to a 2015 deal with the world power in 2015.
In a speech last August, Khamenei opened the door to talking to the United States, saying that involvement with the “enemy” was “no harm.” That came after Iran elected reformist President Masuud Pezeshkian in June. He campaigned on a promise to negotiate a new contract with the world’s greats, similar to the 2015 deal that Trump retracted in 2018.
Trump’s approval arises as both Israel and the US warn Iran that it won’t allow them to acquire nuclear weapons. Tehran leads to fear of military conflict as it enriches its purity, which is the purity required only by armed states.
“I wrote to them, ‘If you have to go militarily, it’s going to be awful, so I hope you negotiate,” Trump said. He later added that he sent out “yesterday” in an interview filmed Thursday.
The White House confirmed Trump’s comments and said it had sent a letter to Iranian leaders asking for nuclear deal negotiations.
“I would rather negotiate a deal. I don’t know if anyone agrees with me, but we can make a deal that will be good as if you’ve won militaryly,” Trump added. “But now, the time is happening. The time is coming. Something will happen in some way.”
“I hope you will negotiate because it’s much better for Iran. They want to get that letter,” Trump said. “The other option is that you can’t have nuclear weapons, so you have to do something.”
Trump did not provide details of what was specifically provided to Iran in the letter, if any.
Iran has long maintained its programme as a peaceful purpose. Still, despite authorities threatening to pursue a bomb, they are threatening to raise tensions between the US and Israel as a volatile ceasefire is held in the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The US Intelligence Agency rated Iran, which has not yet launched its weapons programme, “if it chooses to do so, it is carrying out activities that are better positioned to produce nuclear weapons.”
Since Trump returned to the White House, his administration has consistently said Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons. However, last month, Iran said it had accelerated production of uranium, which is close to weapons, according to a report by the UN nuclear watchdog.
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