President Donald Trump warned Iran on Thursday it must make a deal over its nuclear programme or “really bad things” will happen, and set a deadline of 10 to 15 days, drawing a threat from Tehran to retaliate against US bases in the region if attacked.
Amid a massive US military buildup in the Middle East that has fuelled fears of a wider war, Trump said negotiations with Iran to end the tense standoff were going well but demanded that Tehran reach a “meaningful” agreement.
“Otherwise bad things happen,” Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran, told the first meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington.
Trump spoke of the US airstrikes carried out in June, saying Iran’s nuclear potential had been “decimated,” adding “we may have to take it a step further or we may not.”
“You’ll be finding out over the next probably 10 days,” he said. Asked later to elaborate, he told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I would think that would be enough time, 10, 15 days, pretty much maximum.”
But he declined to be specific, except to warn again of “really bad things” and insist that Iran would have to make a deal one way or another.
Russia called for restraint, with a Kremlin spokesperson saying, “We are currently witnessing an unprecedented escalation of tension in the region, but we still hope that political and diplomatic means and negotiations will continue to prevail in the search for a settlement”.
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Tehran said it would not start any war but that “in the event that it is subjected to military aggression, Iran will respond decisively and proportionately” in its exercise of the right of self-defense.
“All bases, facilities, and assets of the hostile force in the region would constitute legitimate targets,” the letter said. “The United States would bear full and direct responsibility for any unpredictable and uncontrolled consequences.”
Meanwhile, Norway is relocating some of the around 60 soldiers it has in the Middle East to Norway as well as to other countries in the Middle East, citing the security situation in the region, a spokesperson for the Nordic country’s armed forces said yesterday.
Trump’s threats to bomb Iran, with the two sides far apart in talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, have pushed up oil prices, and a Russian corvette warship on Thursday joined planned Iranian naval drills in the Gulf of Oman, a vital sea route for global energy.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said US negotiators have not requested Tehran end its nuclear enrichment programme, contradicting statements from American officials.
“We have not offered any suspension, and the US side has not asked for zero enrichment,” Araghchi said in an interview with the Morning Joe show on US TV network MSNBC.
