What Trump Wants from Iran: U.S. Officials Explain
As Tehran considers President Donald Trump’s letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, senior U.S. officials are outlining the administration’s demands
As Tehran considers President Donald Trump’s letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, senior U.S. officials are outlining the administration’s demands.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy for Middle East affairs whose mandate includes Iran, has characterized the president’s attempt to establish communication with Khamenei regarding a new nuclear deal as an effort to avoid military action.
He said, “We don’t need to solve everything militarily.”
He added, “Our signal to Iran is let's sit down and see if we can, through dialogue, through diplomacy, get to the right place. If we can, we are prepared to do that. And if we can't, the alternative is not a great alternative."
Trump announced sending a letter to Khamenei earlier this month.
“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,’” Trump said. “You can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.”
He added that there are “two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal… I would prefer to make a deal, because I’m not looking to hurt Iran. They’re great people.”
Reports suggest the letter gave Iran a two-month deadline.
Khamenei dismissed the U.S. negotiation offer as “deception,” claiming that talks with the Trump administration would “tighten the knot of sanctions and increase pressure on Iran.”
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said during a televised program that Tehran would soon respond to the “threats and opportunities” outlined in the letter.
Araghchi once again defended the idea of indirect negotiations with the United States, while warning that talks would be impossible unless Washington changed its pressure tactics.
Four years ago, Araghchi - then deputy foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator - conducted indirect negotiations in Vienna with Robert Malley, President Joe Biden’s special envoy for Iran.
The Iranian government at the time claimed the talks had resulted in a draft agreement with the U.S. to return to the JCPOA nuclear deal and even remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from America’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.
Khamenei rejected that agreement in the strongest terms, declaring it “unimplementable.”
While Witkoff has adopted a notably conciliatory tone, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has said the U.S. seeks the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program.
“Iran has to give up its program in a way that the entire world can see,” Waltz said. “It is time for Iran to walk away completely from its desire to have a nuclear weapon, and they will not and cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapons program. That is its weaponization and its strategic missiles program.”
Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, though in the past year, it has repeatedly suggested it might reconsider this position.
The threats intensified when the confrontation between the Islamic Republic and Israel escalated to direct attacks on each other’s territories.
Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), announced last month that time is running out to reach an agreement to contain Iran’s nuclear program, as Tehran continues enriching uranium to levels approaching weapons-grade while steadily increasing its stockpiles.
European powers and the United States must decide by October this year whether U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program should be permanently lifted or reimposed under Resolution 2231.
The IAEA Director General is expected to present a “comprehensive report” to the agency’s Board of Governors in the coming weeks regarding the status of Iran’s nuclear program and the Islamic Republic’s cooperation with the agency - a report that will have decisive implications for the reinstatement of Security Council sanctions.
Ten years ago, Iran struck a historic deal with six world powers - China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK, and the U.S. - to curb its nuclear activities and allow monitoring by IAEA inspectors in exchange for sanctions relief.
However, in 2018, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the accord and reimposed economic sanctions, calling it “the worst deal in history” and saying it did too little to block Iran’s path to a nuclear bomb.
Within Iran, officials speak vaguely about their plans to respond to the U.S. and their policy toward the Trump administration, clearly awaiting the final decision from the 86-year-old Khamenei, who holds complete power in the country and has consistently blocked the resolution of disputes with the United States.
In his two recent speeches marking the Persian New Year, he has avoided directly addressing the letter.
Despite the Islamic Republic’s demonstrated expertise in delaying tactics throughout the 21-year nuclear crisis, this time - even if the reported two-month deadline in Trump’s letter can be extended - the October deadline for the final decision on Resolution 2231 cannot be postponed.