The US President Donald Trump sent a letter to Iranʼs Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, setting a deadline of two months for reaching a new nuclear deal.
Axios writes about this with reference to sources.
It is not yet clear whether the countdown begins when the letter is delivered or when negotiations begin. However, if Iran rejects the American offer and abandons negotiations, the chances of military action by the United States or Israel against Iranian nuclear facilities will increase dramatically.
Iranʼs nuclear program has advanced over the past four years, and Tehran is now closer than ever to building a nuclear weapon. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has estimated that Iranʼs stockpile of 60% enriched uranium is enough for six nuclear bombs if enriched to 90%. Officially, however, Iran denies that it is developing nuclear weapons.
Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News two weeks ago that he had sent a letter to the leader of Iran, offering direct talks.
"We canʼt let them have nuclear weapons. Something is going to happen very soon. I would prefer a peace agreement to the other option, but the other option will solve the problem," he said.
The letter was delivered to Ali Khamenei a few days ago by Trumpʼs special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who handed it to United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed during a meeting in Abu Dhabi. Zayedʼs envoy then handed the letter to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
According to sources, Trumpʼs letter to Khamenei was "tough". While he offers talks, he also warns of consequences if Iran rejects the offer and continues to advance its nuclear program.
Last week, Ali Khamenei called Trumpʼs letter and his offer of talks a "deception" that was intended to create the impression that Iran refused to negotiate. Khamenei said he did not support talks with the United States, but a few hours later, Iranʼs mission to the United Nations issued a statement that did not rule out talks between Iran and the United States over its nuclear program.
However, Iranʼs mission to the UN added that if the goal of the talks is "to dismantle Iranʼs peaceful nuclear program in order to claim that what Obama failed to achieve has now been achieved, such talks will never take place".
Iranʼs Foreign Ministry said in a briefing with reporters that Trumpʼs letter was still being studied and Iranʼs response was being prepared.
Trumpʼs position on Iran
Last September, during the election campaign, Trump said he was open to a new nuclear deal with Iran. At the time, Politico noted that Trumpʼs statements were an attempt to ease tensions with the Iranian government — a week before that, the Republican had been told that Iran was planning to assassinate him.
Trump did not go into details about future cooperation with Iran, but noted that negotiations are needed in any case — because of the threat posed by Iran with its desire to have nuclear weapons.
In early February, the American president signed a document that restores “maximum pressure” on Iran to reduce Iranian oil exports to zero and prevent the country from obtaining nuclear weapons.
On February 6, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against an international network that funnels revenues from the sale of Iranian oil to the Iranian army, circumventing existing restrictions.
In March, Bloomberg reported that Putin had agreed to help Trump in nuclear negotiations with Iran.
What preceded
The Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2015 by the US, UK, Russia, France, China, Germany and the EU. They agreed that the Iranian authorities would give up their nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump withdrew the country from the Iran nuclear deal and imposed new sanctions against the Iranian regime.
Tehran resumed uranium production after Trump pulled out of the deal. Axios noted that under Joe Biden’s presidency, Iran’s nuclear program has “advanced significantly”.
The Biden administration has been conducting indirect talks with Iran to revive the Iran nuclear deal. Those efforts collapsed in late 2022 when the United States accused Iran of making “unfounded” demands related to an International Atomic Energy Agency investigation into unexplained traces of uranium found at undisclosed Iranian sites. In the months that followed, the Trump administration maintained that the Iran nuclear deal was “off the table”.
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