Washington: In a chilling warning, US President Donald Trump threatened to bomb like never before if the Islamic nation refuses to agree to a peace deal and persists in developing nuclear weapons.
“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News.
The American President went on to say that Iran will be punished further with “secondary tariffs.”
Without elaborating, Trump said US and Iranian officials were engaging in talks on the issue.
Trump wrote a letter to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, calling for direct negotiations with the United States on the nuclear issue.
His remarks came after Iran rejected direct negotiations with the United States in response to a letter from Trump calling for renewed nuclear negotiations.
Pezeshkian acknowledged Trump’s letter on Sunday, but ruled out direct negotiations.
“Although the possibility of direct negotiations between the two sides has been rejected in this response, it has been emphasised that the path for indirect negotiations remains open,” stated the Iranian President.
Trump said earlier this month he had sent a letter to Iran in a bid to negotiate a nuclear deal.
“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,” Trump had said.
Though Iran has maintained over the years that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, officials have often threatened talked about the bomb amid tensions with the US over the latter’s sanctions and after the collapse of a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
A landmark deal — the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — was struck in 2015 under former President Barack Obama, imposing curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.
However, the deal fell apart after the US, during Trump’s first Presidential term, withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed sweeping sanctions.
