Donald Trump says he wants to negotiate new nuclear deal with Iran

US President says he sent a letter to Iranian leaders asking if they would be open to talks

US President Donald Trump on Friday said he hopes Iran will agree to negotiate a peace deal over its nuclear weapons programme and that there will soon be a development regarding Tehran.

Speaking from the Oval Office, Mr Trump said “something's going to happen very soon” on the “situation” with Iran. “You'll be talking about that pretty soon, I guess, and hopefully we can have a peace deal,” he said.

In an interview aired on Friday, Mr Trump said he wants to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Iran and has sent leaders in Tehran a letter to see if they would be open to talks. He said he hoped the letter, sent on Wednesday, would avoid the need for any military action.

“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,” he told Fox Business.

Donald Trump said 'something's going to happen very soon' on the 'situation' with Iran. EPA

“I think they want to get that letter. The other alternative is we have to do something, because you can't let them have a nuclear weapon.”

Iran's leaders have said, however, that they would not be willing to resume negotiations with the US on its nuclear programme while Washington continues with its “maximum pressure” campaign.

During Mr Trump's first six weeks back in office, he has upended decades of US foreign policy as part of his “America First” approach.

He has sought rapprochement with Russia and its President Vladimir Putin, as he attempts to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, while also cutting US military aid to Kyiv. He has proposed displacing two million Palestinians from Gaza and the construction of a “Riviera of the Middle East” in the coastal enclave.

In 2018, a year into his first term in the White House, Mr Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, an internationally brokered agreement signed in 2015 that sought to limit Tehran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.

The move undermined years of efforts by the US, China, France, Russia, the UK, Germany and the European Union, and reimposed all sanctions on Iran that had been lifted.

Mr Trump also accused his predecessor Joe Biden's administration of lifting sanctions on Iran, allowing Tehran to raise revenue from oil sales.

“[Mr Biden] took the sanctions off, they became rich under Biden,” he said on Friday. “They went from having no money, to having $300 billion all in a short period – oil builds up fast.”

Early last month, Mr Trump signed an executive order restoring the so-called maximum pressure policy against Iran, with the aim of reducing the country's oil flows by more than 90 per cent.

“We will not enter any direct negotiations with the US so long as they continue their maximum pressure policy and their threats,” Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Foreign Minister, told AFP on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Co-operation meeting in Jeddah.

“But it doesn't mean that, regarding our nuclear programme, we will not negotiate with other parties, we are talking to the three European countries.”

Mr Araghchi also warned against a US or Israeli military attack on Iran, saying it would set off a wider conflict in the Middle East.