By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2025-03-19 23:36:23 | Updated at 2025-03-20 15:58:31
16 hours ago
President Trump’s recent letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told the Ayatollah he wants to see a new nuclear deal “very soon,” a senior administration official told The Post.
Should Iran fail to take his request seriously, Trump will contemplate other options as the administration seeks to stop the theocratic regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon, according to the official.
“President Trump made it clear to Ayatollah Khamenei that he wanted to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program diplomatically – and very soon – and if this was not possible, there would be other ways to resolve the dispute,” US National Security Council Brian Hughes told The Post.
In the letter, Trump specifically gave the 85-year-old Ayatollah a two-month deadline to cut a deal on its nuclear weapons program, Axios first reported.
Two weeks ago, Trump told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures” that he sent a letter to Khamenei suggesting the two countries engage in direct negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.
“We can’t let them have a nuclear weapon. Something is going to happen very soon. I would rather have a peace deal than the other option, but the other option will solve the problem,” Trump said at the time.
That letter was passed off by US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff to United Arab Emirates President Mohammed Bin Zayed, who then sent the letter to Iran, according to Axios.
It is not entirely clear when the two-month deadline began. The overture comes as Trump is trying to pursue peace in the Israel-Hamas war as well as Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Khamenei quickly slammed Trump’s letter as “a deception” that is intended to portray Iran as an uncooperative nation that refuses to negotiate.
Later, Iran’s mission to the United Nations struck a more conciliatory tone.
“If the objective of negotiations is to address concerns vis-à-vis any potential militarization of Iran’s nuclear program, such discussions may be subject to consideration,” it declared in a statement.
“However, should the aim be the dismantlement of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program to claim that what Obama failed to achieve has now been accomplished, such negotiations will never take place.”
Former President Barack Obama’s administration brokered the JCPOA — also known as the Iran nuclear deal — with Iran in 2015.
The deal imposed temporary restrictions on Iran’s nuclear programs in exchange for sanctions relief.
Trump heavily criticized the deal and later withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and slapped severe sanctions back on Iran as part of his maximum-pressure campaign against Tehran.
Iran has lashed out at the US and accused Washington of not being trustworthy because it pulled out of the deal.
However, Iran later admitted to flouting provisions in the deal, including by starting up one of its advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges at its facility in Natanz— something that became publicly known in 2020.
Tehran has also long publicly denied that it is pursuing nuclear weapons despite numerous Western intelligence assessments to the contrary.
US officials have alleged in court documents that Iran plotted to assassinate Trump during the 2024 campaign season.
Iran has been seeking revenge for the death of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, whom Trump ordered killed in an early 2020 airstrike near Baghdad International Airport.
Trump has claimed that he has left his team explicit instructions to “obliterate” the regime if Iran kills him.
On Monday and Wednesday this week, Trump warned Iran to stop supporting the Houthi terrorists as they attack vessels in the Red Sea near the coast of Yemen.
“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire,” Trump ominously declared on Truth Social Monday.
