- Trump says Iran wants a deal as US forces move closer.
- Iran says its defense program is non-negotiable.
- US military build-up in ME contributes to regional tensions.
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump predicted on Friday that Iran would try to negotiate a deal rather than face US military action, despite Tehran warning that its arsenal of missiles would never be up for discussion.
“I can say this, they want to make a deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Asked if he had given Iran a deadline to enter negotiations on its nuclear and missile programs, Trump said “yes, I have” but declined to say what it was.
“We have a large armada, flotilla, call it what you want, headed toward Iran right now,” Trump said, referring to a group of U.S. naval vessels in waters off Iran.
“Hopefully we make a deal. If we make a deal, that’s good. If we don’t make a deal, we’ll see what happens.”
Trump cited what he said was Iran’s decision to halt executions of protesters – after a crackdown in which rights groups say more than 6,000 people were killed – as evidence that Tehran was ready to negotiate.
Do the right thing
Washington’s allies in the region are concerned that any US attack on Iran could cause instability and economic chaos.
A senior Gulf official in contact with the Trump administration said the US was closely guarded about what it has planned.
“We hope that whatever happens, it will lead to stability. That outcome can be achieved by the Iranians doing the right thing, and we hope that happens,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, the head of Iran’s top security body – Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani – met Tehran’s ally Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
No details of their talks emerged, but Moscow has offered to mediate between Washington and Tehran.
Iran’s top diplomat said Friday that his country’s missile and defense capabilities would “never” be on the negotiating table.
Meanwhile, in a post on US social media company X, Larijani said the EU “definitely knows” that according to a resolution passed by Iran’s parliament, the armed forces of countries that took part in the recent EU move against the IRGC will themselves be considered terrorist organizations.
“The European Union certainly knows that in accordance with a resolution of the Iranian parliament, the armies of countries that participated in the recent EU decision against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will be considered terrorists,” Larijani said.
He added that “the consequences of such action will therefore fall on the European countries that took this step.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran is “ready to start negotiations if they take place on an equal footing.”
But, he stressed, “Iran’s defensive and missile capabilities will never be subject to negotiation,” adding that there were no plans to meet with US officials to resume talks.
The former IAEA chief criticizes US threats
Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei has condemned the escalating US threats of military action against Iran.
In his speech on Thursday the X, ElBaradei drew a direct parallel to the run-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which he described as “illegal and immoral” and based on falsehoods with devastating human and regional consequences.
“The continued unilateral threats of a military strike against #Iran in the absence of any clear and present danger and in violation of international law brings to mind the same grim scene before the illegal and immoral #Iraq war with its lies and horrific consequences. Human lives and regional devastation don’t seem to matter. We never learn…” he tweeted.
US news site Axios reported this week that Washington officials say any deal must include a cap on Iran’s arsenal of long-range missiles, the removal of enriched uranium from the country and a ban on independent enrichment.
Serhan Afacan, director of IRAM, the Ankara-based Center for Iranian Studies, told AFP that trying to link a nuclear deal with other issues would likely “be impossible.”
“At the moment, the ballistic missile program remains a red line as it is the core of Iran’s defense architecture,” he said.
Reduction of tensions
Iran has warned it would respond immediately with missile strikes against US bases, ships and allies, particularly Israel.
“We do not limit the geography of the confrontation to the sea alone and have prepared for wider and more advanced scenarios,” the head of Iran’s Defense Council, Ali Shamkhani, said on Friday, according to the Tasnim news agency.
At a joint press conference in Istanbul with Araghchi, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Israel was pushing for the US to attack Iran and urged Washington to “not allow this to happen.”
Iran has blamed the US and Israel for the protests, which erupted in late December over economic grievances and peaked on January 8 and 9, accusing the two countries of fueling a “terrorist operation” that turned peaceful demonstrations into “riots”.
