Trump sends letter to Iran on nuclear program: ‘make a deal’ or face US ‘militarily’

President Donald Trump on Friday revealed that he has sent a letter to Iran warning that it can either “make a deal” with Washington, D.C., on its nuclear program or face the U.S. “militarily.”

“I said, I hope you’re going to negotiate, because it’s going to be a lot better for Iran,” Trump told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on “Mornings with Maria,” in reference to a letter he sent to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal,” he said. “I would prefer to make a deal, because I’m not looking to hurt Iran.”

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Trump did not go into detail about what a nuclear deal with Iran would look like or how it would differ from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was agreed to by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, including China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. under the Obama administration, along with Germany and the European Union. 

But Trump pulled the U.S. out of the JCPOA in 2018, effectively collapsing the agreement, and Tehran has since continuously violated the terms under the previous agreement. He again implemented a maximum pressure campaign against Tehran and just last month he signed an executive order on “Restoring Maximum Pressure on Iran.”

“We have to do something, because you can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told Bartiromo.

An infographic titled “Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpiles rapidly increase” was created in Istanbul on May 28, 2024. (Muhammed Ali Yigit/Anadolu via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has repeatedly warned in recent months that Iran is pushing forward in its development of near-nuclear-grade uranium and now possesses enough uranium, if further enriched, to develop five nuclear weapons. 

The Washington, D.C.-based Iranian watchdog, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has also warned that it is not just the chemical components of the weapon that Tehran has been developing, but the technical ability to launch a nuclear warhead. 

The Iranian regime has not yet commented on the correspondence that Trump apparently sent out on Thursday. 

“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 argued, noting that time is running out to make a deal.

President Donald Trump stands as he concludes his address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on Tuesday. (Win McNamee/pool/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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“I hope that Iran [is]…going to negotiate, because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them,” Trump warned. 

Russia has reportedly offered to serve as a mediator in the U.S. talks with Iran, though Trump did not comment on whether that would happen.