US President Donald Trump said he wanted to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran and wrote a letter to the country’s leadership on Thursday saying he hoped Tehran would agree to talks.
“I said I hope you’re going to negotiate because it’s going to be a lot better for Iran,” Trump said in the interview with Fox Business Network broadcast Friday.
“I think they want to get that letter. The other alternative is we have to do something because you can’t let another nuclear weapon.”
According to a Reuters report, the letter appeared to have been addressed to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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In 2018, Trump withdrew the US from the previous agreement, which imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. Since then Tehran has stocked highly enriched uranium that is enough for use in multiple nuclear weapons.
On Friday, the Russian foreign ministry said the country’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, discussed international efforts to resolve the situation around Iran’s nuclear program with the Iranian ambassador, Kazem Jalali.
Previously, the Trump administration suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to act as a mediator with Iran. Russian diplomats have already been advising Trump to keep any negotiations with Iran limited to the nuclear issue.
