Denying US and Israel are planning a strike, Trump says he wants a deal with Iran
US president urges that work on new nuclear pact start ‘immediately’; Iranian FM insists administration’s restoration of ‘maximum pressure’ policy ‘will turn into another failure’

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied the United States and Israel plan to carry out a military strike on Iran, instead saying he wants to make a new nuclear deal with Tehran and that work on the pact should start immediately.
“I want Iran to be a great and successful Country, but one that cannot have a Nuclear Weapon. Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens, ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED,” Trump wrote, apparently in the middle of the night, on his Truth Social platform. It was unclear which reports he was referring to.
“I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper,” he wrote. “We should start working on it immediately, and have a big Middle East Celebration when it is signed and completed. God Bless the Middle East!”
The post echoed comments he made during a joint press conference the day before with visiting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said the two of them are committed to ensuring Tehran never has a nuclear weapon.
On Tuesday, Trump restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, including efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero, in an effort to stop the Islamic Republic from developing an atomic bomb.
The move brought back the tough US policy on Iran that Trump implemented throughout his first term.

Trump took exception to the idea that Iran is currently weak when it was suggested during his press conference with Netanyahu.
“They’re not weak. They’re very strong right now, and we’re not going to allow them to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “It’s very simple.”
“I signed a very strong proclamation,” he said. “Doesn’t mean they won’t be weak [in the future].”
‘A failed experiment’
Responding, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated Wednesday that the reimposition of a policy of heavy pressure against Iran will end in “failure” as it did when Trump was previously in office.
“I believe that maximum pressure is a failed experiment and trying it again will turn into another failure,” Araghchi told reporters following a cabinet meeting, while again claiming that Tehran was not pursuing nuclear weapons.
As part of the “maximum pressure” policy during his first term that ended in 2021, Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and major powers and reimposed biting sanctions.

The deal — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.
Tehran adhered to the deal until a year after Washington pulled out but then began rolling back its commitments. Efforts to revive the 2015 deal have since faltered.
“If the main issue is that Iran does not pursue nuclear weapons, it is achievable and is not much of a problem,” Araghchi said, repeating the claim — derided by Western powers — that Tehran’s program is solely civilian.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also downplayed the impact of sanctions on Iran.
“America threatens new sanctions, but Iran is a powerful and resource-rich country that can navigate challenges by managing its resources,” Pezeshkian said in a televised ceremony.
However, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that “the clerical establishment’s will is to give diplomacy with Trump another chance, but Tehran is deeply concerned about Israel’s sabotage.”
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tehran wanted the United States to “rein in Israel if Washington is seeking a deal” with the Islamic Republic.

On Wednesday, Iran’s nuclear agency chief Mohammad Eslami insisted that his country remains committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, saying “Iran does not have, and will not have a nuclear weapons program.”
But with its regional allies either dismantled or gravely weakened since the start of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza in October 2023, and mounting discontent among many Iranians at the state of the economy, analysts say the clerical establishment has few options other than to strike a deal with Trump.
The fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria in December, a crucial ally of Tehran, has severely disrupted Tehran’s “Axis of Resistance,” a network of regional armed groups, terror proxies and allied states, with which Iran counters Israel and the United States while asserting its influence throughout the Middle East.

The Iranian official also said Tehran disagreed with “any displacement of Gazans, but Iran-US talks are a separate matter,” referring to Trump’s remarks that the US would take over war-ravaged Gaza and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.
“Iran does not agree with any displacement of Palestinians and has communicated this through various channels. However, this issue and the path of Iran’s nuclear agreement are two separate matters and should be pursued separately,” the official said.
War in Gaza erupted on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led thousands of terrorists in a devastating attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Terrorists also abducted 251 people who were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip. The following day, Iran-backed Lebanese terror group began attacking across Israel’s northern border and the fighting escalated into open war by September the following year. Israel decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and depleted its fighting abilities before the two sides reached a mediated ceasefire at the end of November.
A ceasefire in the Gaza war, which began in January and includes the release of hostages, is in the midst of the first of its three phases, though the remaining two stages have yet to be negotiated and agreed on.