By The Daily Caller (World News) | Created at 2025-03-31 22:15:58 | Updated at 2025-04-04 17:17:44
3 days ago
President Donald Trump threatened Iran with a bombing “the likes of which they have never seen before” if they did not agree to a nuclear deal during a Saturday phone call with NBC News’s Kristen Welker, she revealed Sunday.
Trump’s threat follows a letter he sent to Iran’s “supreme leader” Ali Khamenei requesting direct nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Iran rejected that request, but signaled willingness to negotiate indirectly in a response letter delivered through the government of gulf state Oman. (RELATED:Here Are Trump’s Options For Dealing With An Imminent Nuclear Threat That Festered Under Biden)
Leaving the door open for indirect talks, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that the US needs to build more trust with the Islamic Republic, according to The Associated Press (AP).
“The president expressed his willingness to discuss a deal with Iran,” a US State Department spokesperson reportedly told The AP.
“If the Iranian regime does not want a deal, the president is clear, he will pursue other options, which will be very bad for Iran,” the spokesperson added, according to The AP.
The exchange is the most public significant back and forth between the two nations since Trump pulled out of the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal in 2018.
Iran has built up their uranium stockpile in the meantime, amassing enough enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon in 2022, according to a report from the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).
The country currently has enough enriched uranium to produce six nuclear weapons, according to a 2024 report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Iranian military activity has also increased significantly in the midst of the wider middle east conflict as a result of Hamas’ October 7 terror attack on Israel. (RELATED: Putin Accepts Trump’s Offer To Assist With Iran Nuclear Talks: REPORT)
The Islamic republic has launched direct missile strikes on Israel as recently as 2024 and they are also funding the Yemen-based Houthi rebels, a group which the US military has been striking intermittently throughout the year.
Trump has maintained he’s hopeful that he will be able to work out a deal with Iran, but did not remove the possibility that the US will intervene with force.
“I’ve written them a letter saying, ‘I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing,'” he told Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo in early March.
