Iran rebuffs Trump's push for direct negotiations on its nuclear program

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Iran rejected a request from President Donald Trump to engage in direct negotiations on finding a path to a new nuclear agreement as tensions in the Middle East have escalated and concerns have grown about its quickly advancing nuclear program that the U.S. wants to prevent from developing weapons capabilities.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday the country has rejected direct negotiations with the Trump administration after the president sent a letter earlier this month hoping to negotiate on the issue.

While Iran rejected direct negotiations on returning to a nuclear deal, it did leave its options open to continue talks through backchannels and other diplomatic means.

"Although the possibility of direct negotiations between the two sides has been rejected in this response, it has been emphasized that the path for indirect negotiations remains open," Pezeshkian said.

Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Obama-era nuclear deal in 2018, saying it was one-sided and “horrible” for the United States. Under the agreement, Iran gave up 97% of its nuclear material and limited further work on research and development in exchange for billions of dollars’ worth of relief from sanctions. Trump accused Iran of failing to hold up its end of the deal and installed punishing sanctions on its economy as part of a “maximum pressure” campaign to get Tehran to back off developing a nuclear weapon.

There have since been indirect discussions with Iran since 2018 under the last two administrations to find a new agreement but have yielded little results, and it is unclear whether there will be more success with the second Trump administration. The president has threatened more severe consequences if Iran doesn’t ultimately comply.

Trump told NBC prior to Iran’s rejection that he is considering military action and more sanctions if it doesn’t come to the negotiating table.

"If they don't make a deal, there will be bombing and it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before," he said.

But speaking to reporters on Air Force One over the weekend, the president said he would prefer to avoid more extreme measures.

“I would prefer a deal to the other alternative which I think everybody in this plane knows what that is, and that’s never going to be pretty,” he said.

It comes as the war between Israel and Hamas is picking up again after a brief and uneasy ceasefire and after the U.S. struck Houthi rebels in the Red Sea in what the administration hopes will avoid American troops and cargo ships from being targeted by more attacks.

Trump has said further strikes from the militant group would be viewed as a direct attack from Iran and be returned with “great force.”

“Trump has authorized the strikes against the Houthis in Yemen,” said Javed Ali, a former counterterrorism official in federal government and associate professor of practice at the University of Michigan. “He approved those military operations and that is also a signal to Iran that ‘whatever we're doing to the Houthis, we can do just as much, and if not more to you.’”

Iran is also in a more vulnerable position after Israel degraded Hezbollah’s fighting abilities in a war in Lebanon and the Assad regime was overthrown in Syria. Iran’s own capabilities have been damaged after Israeli strikes last fall in response to a failed launch of hundreds of missiles that were easily intercepted by Israeli and U.S. defense systems.

“It's interesting that even though Iran is in a much weaker position because of the all the losses the Axis of Resistance has faced, and then what Israel has done to Iran over last year, with the air strikes and really degrading its air defense network and some of its ballistic missile or drone attack capability, that Iran seems pretty defiant,” Ali said.

It’s unclear how far Tehran will be willing to push against Trump with its weakened position and the administration’s adamance on preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but some officials have made threats to troops stationed in the region that have raised questions about whether the president would approve military strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program, most of which is built in secretive underground facilities.

The Associated Press reported its state television published a story including U.S. bases in the Middle East as possible targets under attack.

“The Americans themselves know how vulnerable they are,” Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said. “If they violate Iran’s sovereignty, it will be like a spark in a gunpowder depot, setting the entire region ablaze. In such a scenario, their bases and their allies will not be safe.”