US President Donald Trump said he would prefer to make a deal with Iran than resort to military action.
“I would like to make a deal with Iran on nuclear issues. I would prefer that to bombing“, Trump said in an interview with The New York Post.
According to him, if such a deal were reached, Israel would not attack Iran. However, Trump refused to reveal details of possible negotiations. The president added that he could tell the Iranians whatever he deemed necessary and hoped they would abandon their current plans.
“I'll tell them I'm ready to make a deal,“ Trump said.
Asked what exactly he would offer Iran in exchange for a deal, Trump said: “I can't say that because it's too difficult.“
“But I'm not going to bomb them,“ the US president added.
Iran is ready to negotiate with the US, but not if it is subject to a policy of “maximum pressure” of US President Donald Trump, said last night the head of Iranian diplomacy Abbas Araghchi, quoted by Agence France-Presse and BTA.
"Lifting sanctions is necessary for negotiations, but not within the framework of the policy of "maximum pressure", because this will no longer be negotiations, but rather a form of capitulation," Araghchi said in a communiqué published on his Telegram page.
The statement was made a day after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on the government "not to negotiate" with the US. According to him, such a step would be "unwise". The supreme leader, who has the final say on all strategic decisions in Iran, justified his position by referring to the "experience" of unfulfilled agreements concluded with the United States, recalls AFP. In 2015, Iran signed a nuclear deal with the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia.
In exchange for the restrictions, the text provided for the easing of international sanctions on Tehran. But in 2018, during his first term, Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from the agreement and reimposed heavy sanctions on Iran, to the dismay of the European signatories.
On Wednesday, the US president said he supported a "peace deal" with Iran, a sworn enemy of the United States since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But Iran "cannot have nuclear weapons," insisted Donald Trump, a day after announcing his support for a policy of "maximum pressure" against Tehran.
On Thursday, the US Treasury Department announced financial sanctions against an international network "facilitating the delivery of millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil worth several hundred million dollars to China".
"Iran does not want to negotiate with a country that simultaneously signs new sanctions", Araghchi stressed yesterday.