Trump says Iran faces ‘bad, bad things’ if it doesn’t reach nuclear deal
Sky News Arabia claims to publish text of Trump’s letter to Khamenei, says US president offered to lift sanctions in exchange for an agreement
US Donald Trump on Friday warned Iran that “very bad things will happen” if it fails to reach a nuclear deal, after Tehran responded to a letter from the US president calling for talks.
“I sent them a letter just recently, and I said: you have to make a decision, one way or the other, and we either have to talk and talk it out or very bad things are going to happen to Iran,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“I don’t want that to happen. My big preference — and I don’t say this through strength or weakness — my big preference is, we work it out with Iran. But if we don’t work it out, bad, bad things are going to happen to Iran.”
On Saturday, Sky News Arabia published what it said was the text of Trump’s letter. However, it did not publish it in the original English and it did not appear to include the full text.
According to the report, Trump wrote that he would not sit by while the Iranians threaten the US and its allies. However, Trump reportedly wrote that he was willing to take significant steps to avoid an escalation, including lifting sanctions and opening the door to cooperation between the two countries.
Previous reports have said that Trump’s letter gave Iran a two-month deadline for reaching a new nuclear deal.
Trump: "My big preference is we work it out with Iran. But if we don't work it out, bad bad things are gonna happen with Iran. Ok, thank you very much everybody." pic.twitter.com/3WE8agbmAN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 28, 2025
Trump, who in 2018 pulled the United States out of an agreement to relieve sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program, now says he is open to talks on a deal that could reduce the risk of military escalation.
The US president revealed at the start of March that he had sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
At the same time, Trump has pushed ahead with his “maximum pressure” program of additional sanctions on Tehran and the threat of military action if it refuses to negotiate.
Tehran has refused to negotiate directly with Washington under these circumstances, but has held out the possibility of indirect talks.
On Thursday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the official IRNA news agency that he had delivered a letter responding to Trump’s outreach to Oman, which has served as an intermediary in the past in the absence of US-Iran diplomatic relations.
Iran, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, denies seeking a nuclear weapon, but it has ramped up its enrichment of uranium up to 60 percent purity, the only country in the world without a nuclear weapons program to do so, and has obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities.
Iran has twice in the past year fired large barrages of missiles and drones at Israel in support of its terror proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen.
In response, Israel struck Iranian facilities, including missile factories and air defenses. That reduced Tehran’s conventional military capabilities, according to analysts and US officials, an assessment disputed by Tehran.
The Times of Israel Community.