Donald Trump has warned Iran there would be “bombing the likes of which they have never seen before” if it rejects his nuclear weapons deal.
The threat comes after the US president sent a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, giving him a deadline of two months to come to an agreement over the country’s nuclear programme.
Last week, Mr Trump deployed stealth bombers to the Diego Garcia base, which the US shares with Britain, in what was thought to be a warning to Iran and its proxies.
On Sunday, he told NBC in a phone call: “If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing – and it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”
While Mr Trump has said that a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear problem is preferable, military means are still on the table.
On Friday, speaking at the Oval Office, he warned: “I sent them a letter just recently, and I said you have to make a decision, one way or the other, and we either have to talk it out, or very bad things are going to happen to Iran.
“I don’t want that to happen. My big preference – and I don’t say this through strength or weakness – is we work it out with Iran. But if we don’t work it out, bad, bad things are going to happen to Iran.”
On Sunday, Masoud Pezeshkian, the president, said that Islamic Republic rejected the option of direct talks with the US, offering Tehran’s first response to Mr Trump’s letter via mediators in Oman.
During his first term, Mr Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, which had imposed strict limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
He also reimposed severe sanctions on Iran. Despite this, Tehran has surpassed the agreed limits of its nuclear programme, particularly in uranium enrichment.
According to a confidential United Nations report, the increase in Iran’s holdings of uranium enriched to 60 per cent, or nearly weapons grade, gives it enough to produce six nuclear weapons, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The report said Iran was now producing enough fissile material in a month for one nuclear weapon, but Tehran maintains that its nuclear programme is peaceful.
It comes as the US continues its bombing of the Iran-backed Houthi militia’s facilities in Yemen amid the maritime blockade in the Red Sea region, in which the terror group has targeted commercial shipping with attacks on US vessels.
Mr Trump has told Iran that any Houthi attacks will be treated as direct Iranian attacks, promising tough consequences.
There has been no official comment from White House or the State Department following the comments.
Mr Trump is pushing for multiple deals that could reshape global security. On Saturday, The Washington Post published parts of a secret document outlining priorities, which says the US would leave Europe to defend itself if invaded by Russia. It added that America’s sole priority is stopping China from taking over Taiwan.
“China is the Department’s sole pacing threat, and denial of a Chinese fait accompli seizure of Taiwan – while simultaneously defending the U.S. homeland is the Department’s sole pacing scenario,” Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, wrote in the memo.
Referring to the document, the Washington Post said: “Its force planning construct – a concept of how the Pentagon will build and resource the armed services to take on perceived threats – will consider conflict only with Beijing when planning contingencies for a major power war, it says, leaving the threat from Moscow largely attended by European allies.”
