Trump Warns of Fresh Strikes on Iran if Nuclear Talks Fail

U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Washington is engaged in “very deep talks” with the Islamic Republic and warned that if diplomatic efforts fail, the United States will return to “very strong military action” against Iran.

Speaking on Monday in an interview with Axios and Israel’s Channel 12, Trump stated: “We are in very deep talks with Iran. If they don’t work out, we will go back to very strong military action.”

When asked how much time he was willing to give diplomacy, he replied: “Not much time. Either it goes fast or not at all.”

The U.S. President explained that, after 13 days of nightly strikes on Iran, he issued an order to suspend operations on Friday. According to Trump, the decision was made following requests from mediating countries that were in contact with Washington, Tehran, and other regional states.

“All of the people dealing with Iran asked me, ‘Don’t fire,’” Trump said. He added that he believes the Islamic Republic wants to reach an agreement.

Trump’s remarks came shortly after Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic, dismissed reports of direct negotiations between Tehran and Washington, saying: “We currently have no negotiations with the United States.”

The U.S. suspended its military campaign against Iran last Friday after 13 nights of airstrikes. In turn, the Islamic Republic, which had targeted several host countries of U.S. forces in the Middle East during the conflict, stated that it would cease its retaliatory strikes.