Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has responded to a letter from President Trump sent earlier this month regarding the country’s nuclear program. Speaking on the airwaves of Iran’s state-owned news outlet, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed that a response was sent to U.S. leadership via Oman. He reiterated the state’s rejection of direct negotiations as long as the White House continues to make “military threats” and employ a “maximum pressure” campaign against the country, but also stated that negotiations may possible under the right conditions. “The Islamic Republic has not closed all the doors and is willing to begin indirect negotiations with the United States,” said Khamal Kharazi, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s top foreign policy advisor.
Donald Trump has maintained a hard line against Iran since his first term, when he withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated by President Obama, which offered sanctions relief in exchange for limits on the country’s nuclear program. In his letter from two weeks ago, President Trump set a deadline of two months for Iran to reach a new nuclear deal with the United States, but did so with maximalist language that has launched a new round of saber-rattling between the two nations.
Trump’s letter warns that “there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal.” Soon after sending the communiqué, the president told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that he “would rather have a peace deal than the other option, but the other option will solve the problem.” Reuters reported on Friday that Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Qalibaf responded that “if the Americans attack the sanctity of Iran, the entire region will blow up like a spark in an ammunition dump.”
Beyond Trump’s longstanding hawkish stance, tensions are now raised between the United States and Iran due to the Gaza war, with the Iran-backed Houthis blockading ship traffic to Israel in the Red Sea and demanding an end to Israel’s invasion. Iran has also ramped up its nuclear program, with the international Atomic Energy Agency reporting in February that its nuclear material enrichment was near weapons grade, and that the nation had enough material for six bombs. The IAEA did not report any evidence of weapons being made.
