President Donald Trump wrapped up his first trip abroad since returning to the Oval Office by sending Iran a proposal for a nuclear agreement and threatening that something “bad” would happen if Tehran did not quickly make a deal with Washington.
On Friday, Trump said he passed the proposal to Iran and demanded they act quickly or face consequences. “We’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran. I think we’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this,” he said. “But most importantly, they know they have to move quickly, or something bad is going to happen.”
The previous day, Trump said that the two sides were close to a deal. Washington has not publicly revealed any details from the agreement. On Thursday, the Iranian foreign minister said Tehran had not received a proposal from Washington.
The messaging from the White House has fluctuated significantly. At times, Washington has said that Tehran must completely abandon its nuclear program, including its ability to enrich uranium. At other points, US officials have said Iran could maintain nuclear enrichment in an arrangement similar to the 2015 nuclear deal.
Tehran has said it will not sign a deal that requires it to give up its enrichment program.
Trump and other top US officials have said a nuclear deal with Iran must come soon or Washington may declare war on Tehran. The White House says the short timeline is necessary, claiming Iran is getting close to building a nuclear weapon.
However, the US intelligence community has said for over a decade that Tehran is not building a nuclear weapon.
Reaching a new nuclear agreement would be very popular in the US. Around 70% of Americans, including nearly two-thirds of Republicans, favor Trump signing a new agreement with the Islamic Republic.
On Friday, Iranian officials met with European diplomats for the first time since Trump returned to office. UK, French and German (the E3) officials met with an Iranian delegation in Turkey to discuss the ongoing talks with the US.
The UK, France, and Germany were signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear pact. However, Trump effectively forced the E3 out of the deal when he left the agreement in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com and news editor of the Libertarian Institute. He hosts The Kyle Anzalone Show and is co-host of Conflicts of Interest with Connor Freeman.
