Iran has sent an official response to a letter from the US President Donald Trump to Iranʼs Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. American media reported that in the letter, Trump set a deadline of two months for reaching a new nuclear deal.
The Iranian state media IRNA reported on the response.
No details of Iranʼs response or the content of Trumpʼs letter to Ali Khamenei are provided. Iranʼs response was sent "as expected, via Oman".
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added that Iranian policy “remains firm in rejecting direct negotiations under maximum pressure and military threats.” However, he noted that indirect negotiations, which were conducted under previous US administrations, could continue.
Iranian leader Ali Khamenei has previously said that his country will not negotiate with the United States because Tehran does not believe that Washington will abide by any treaty obligations.
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.
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. Under Joe Biden’s presidency, Iran’s nuclear program has “advanced significantly,” Axios noted.
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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