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President Donald Trump escalated his threats against Iran Sunday afternoon, after the Islamic Republic announced that it refuses to hold direct negotiations with him on a new nuclear agreement, but has signaled that it will agree to indirect talks. Trump said Sunday in an interview with NBC News that if a new agreement is not reached, Iran will be attacked.
"If they don't make a deal, there will be bombing," Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC. "There will be bombs like they've never seen before."
Trump added that "there's a chance that if they don't make a deal, that I will do secondary tariffs on them like I did four years ago."
He also noted that US and Iranian officials are now "talking." It is not clear whether he meant direct talks, which Iran had previously denied.
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US President Donald Trump; Suprme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei
(Photo: Kevin Dietsch/AFP, KHAMENEI.IR/AFP)
Tehran announced over the weekend that Iran had responded to a letter Trump sent to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and in a message sent via Oman, Iranian officials expressed agreement to indirect negotiations, but insisted that direct dialogue with the U.S. is not possible as long as it threatened Iran and imposed sanctions on it.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said earlier Sunday: "In response to Trump's announcement, we confirm that we are rejecting direct negotiations, but the path to indirect dialogue is open. The behavior of American officials will determine the course of the negotiations. We have never avoided dialogue, but violating agreements has led to problems," he said, referring to the fact that Trump withdrew from the previous nuclear deal in 2018, three years after it was signed during the Obama administration.
"Trust must be rebuilt," Pezeshkian added.
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In the interview with NBC, Trump also addressed his efforts to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, and in light of Russia's refusal for now to comply with his demand for a comprehensive 30-day ceasefire, he was unusually critical of President Vladimir Putin. Trump said he was "furious" when Putin again questioned the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the weekend, and even suggested establishing an alternative government in Kiev under the auspices of the United Nations.
Trump said that Putin's remarks were "not going in the right direction," and threatened to impose additional tariffs on Russian oil if an agreement to end the war is not reached. He also said that he intended to speak with Putin this week, a conversation that would be the third known talk between them since his return to the White House.
More details soon.