President Donald Trump signaled that a nuclear deal with Iran could emerge in the near future, just over a month after his administration reinstated a ‘maximum pressure’ campaign against Tehran.
Trump on Friday told reporters that the U.S. is ‘down to the final moments’ negotiating with Iran, and that he hoped military intervention would prove unnecessary.
‘It’s an interesting time in the history of the world. But we have a situation with Iran that something is going to happen very soon, very, very soon,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. ‘You’ll be talking about that pretty soon, I guess. Hopefully, we can have a peace deal. I’m not speaking out of strength or weakness, I’m just saying I’d rather see a peace deal than the other. But the other will solve the problem.’
Trump revealed he sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pushing for Tehran to agree to a nuclear agreement — or face military consequences, according to a clip released Friday from an interview with FOX Business that is set to air Sunday.
‘I would rather negotiate a deal,’ Trump told FOX Business. ‘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.’
‘But the time is happening now, the time is coming up,’ he said. ‘Something is going to happen one way or the other. I hope that Iran, and 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 for them.’
Behnam Ben Taleblu, director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Iran program, said that it seemed Trump was ‘putting all options on the table, from good to bad.’
‘But the President should be careful,’ Ben Taleblu said in a statement. ‘Tehran has set a trap for him, hoping to lure him into endless diplomacy that is used to blunt maximum pressure and dampen the credibility of an American or Israeli military option while buying time to creep towards a nuclear weapon.’
Trump’s remarks also come days before the 18th anniversary of the abduction of retired FBI Special Agent Robert ‘Bob’ Levinson from Kish Island, Iran, on Sunday, which also marks National Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day.
The FBI has continued to offer up to a $5 million reward for information that leads to Levinson’s recovery, while the State Department has offered $20 million for such information, as well as details on those who are wanted for their alleged involvement in his disappearance.
Trump told reporters in February he believes Iran is ‘close’ to developing a nuclear weapon, but that the U.S. would stop a ‘strong’ Tehran from obtaining one. He also signed an executive order instructing the Treasury Department to execute ‘maximum economic pressure’ upon Iran through a series of sanctions aimed at sinking Iran’s oil exports.
‘They’re very strong right now, and we’re not going to let them get a nuclear weapon,’ Trump said Feb. 4.
Trump’s first administration also adopted a ‘maximum pressure’ initiative against Tehran, issuing greater sanctions and harsher enforcement for violations.