President Donald Trump has informed Iran that it has two months to accept a nuclear deal that halts its ambitions for a nuclear weapon or else the U.S. military will end it for them.
Axios reported that Trump made his deadline clear to the Islamic regime in the letter he sent to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, although it was not clear from the report whether the countdown began when the letter was delivered or when negotiations with the Trump administration begin.
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff delivered the letter to United Arab Emirates President Mohammed Bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi several days ago.
The following day, an official representing Zayed traveled to Tehran to deliver the letter to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Khamenei responded by claiming that the U.S. was trying to “deceive the world’s public opinion” and suggesting that negotiations will never happen with the Trump administration.
Iran held negotiations with the Biden administration for years but nothing ever came from it and Iran was able to amass large stockpiles of 60% enriched uranium that can be easily enriched to the 90% uranium that is needed to build a nuclear missile.
“With regard to nuclear weapons… After all, they keep saying: ‘We will not let Iran obtain nuclear weapons,'” he said last week. “If we wanted to build a nuclear weapon, America would not be able to stop us.”
“If the objective of negotiations is to address concerns vis-à-vis any potential militarization of Iran’s nuclear program, such discussions may be subject to consideration. However, should the aim be the dismantlement of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program to claim that what Obama failed to achieve has now been accomplished, such negotiations will never take place.”
A crude nuclear weapon can be constructed using 60% enriched uranium but the device would be far too big to put on a missile and thus would have to be delivered via a bomber aircraft, a boat, or a truck.
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) says that Iran already has enough 60% enriched uranium to make roughly seven nuclear weapons and noted that enriching uranium to that threshold “represents about 95 to 99 percent of the technical effort to make 90 percent enriched uranium.”
Trump has made clear that he is not seeking a military confrontation with Iran and would prefer that a deal be made.
“I would rather negotiate a deal,” he said last week. “I’m not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily. But the time is happening now. The time is coming up. Something’s going to happen one way or the other. I hope that Iran and I’ve written them a letter saying, I hope you’re going to negotiate, because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them.”
