President Donald Trump has called on Iran to reach a deal over its nuclear program and reiterated his threat that the United States is prepared to launch a military attack against Iran.
“A massive armada is heading towards Iran. It’s moving quickly with great power, enthusiasm and purpose,” he said in a lengthy post on Truth Social on Wednesday.
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The US president added: “I hope that Iran will quickly ‘come to the table’ and negotiate a fair and just deal that bans nuclear weapons. No nuclear weapons and a deal that is good for all parties. Time is running out. That’s really what matters! As I said to Iran once before, get a deal!”
In an apparent reference to the US bombing of three Iranian nuclear facilities in June, the US president warned that the next attack would be “much worse” if Iran failed to reach a deal.
President Trump’s rant came shortly after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran would not restart negotiations amid threats of attack.
Iran’s top diplomat has insisted that his country has not asked to restart negotiations and will not do so as long as the threat continues.
“Threats and demands”
President Trump has repeatedly indicated that he is considering ordering military action in response to Iran’s crackdown on anti-government protests earlier this month, raising tensions across the region.
“There has been no communication between me and U.S. Special Envoy[Steve]Witkoff in the last few days, and there has been no request from us for negotiations,” Araghchi told state media.
“Our position is clear. Negotiations are not a response to threats. Negotiations will only take place when there are no more threats or excessive demands,” the diplomat said.
Earlier this month, Araghchi said his country was ready for war if Washington wanted to “try” it.
The comments came after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian harshly criticized US “threats”, saying they “are aimed at destroying regional security and can only lead to destabilization.”
This aggressive counterattack seems to contradict Foreign Minister Turkiye’s statements. “Iran is ready to negotiate the nuclear file again,” Hakan Fidan suggested in an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday.
In June, while indirect negotiations regarding the nuclear program were underway, the United States joined Israel’s 12-day war against Iran, bombing three major nuclear facilities. The attack killed 430 people.
Iranian officials have vowed to launch a “comprehensive and deploring response” in the event of another attack.
President Trump has repeatedly claimed that Iran’s nuclear program was “annihilated” by the U.S. attack in June, and Western countries and international organizations are concerned that Iran’s nuclear program is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.
However, the Iranian government insists that the program is strictly for civilian purposes and that it has the right to enrich uranium.
The whereabouts of the country’s highly enriched uranium remains unknown since the June attack.
There is tension in the area
Meanwhile, the United States continues to ramp up pressure on Iran, focusing its rhetoric on protests that have reportedly left thousands of people dead.
The US-based Human Rights Defenders News Agency (HRANA) said it had confirmed at least 6,221 deaths, including at least 5,858 protesters, and was investigating 12,904 others.
Mai Sato, the United Nations special rapporteur on Iran, said the death toll could reach more than 20,000 as reports from Iranian doctors become clearer.
The Iranian government put the death toll at 3,117, with 2,427 civilians and security forces, and the rest “terrorists.”
Al Jazeera has not been able to independently verify this figure.
President Trump has previously established two red lines for launching an attack: killing peaceful protesters and potentially mass executions of detainees.
regional tensions
The threat of military action has increased tensions across the region. Iran has vowed to retaliate in response to the U.S. attack with attacks on bases in the region where U.S. troops are stationed.
Tehran and the US Air Force both announced they would conduct military exercises near the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that neighboring countries would be “considered hostile” if the US used their territory during the attack.
Last June, the Iranian government responded to the bombing of its nuclear facilities by attacking U.S. forces stationed at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which host U.S. troops, said they would not use their airspace for any attacks.
The tensions have also sparked a diplomatic whirlwind in the region.
On Wednesday, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry announced that the country’s top diplomat, Badr Abdellatti, had met separately with Aragushi and Witkov to “strive to achieve calm to avoid the region falling into a new cycle of instability.”
