“Number one, no nuclear. And number two, stop killing protesters,” Trump said Thursday. “They are killing them by the thousands.”
Speaking at the premiere of a documentary about his wife Melania, Trump added, “We have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now, and it would be great if we didn’t have to use them.”
The comments follow weeks of escalating pressure on Tehran to negotiate a new nuclear deal. Earlier in the week, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS.” He warned of a “massive Armada” that is “ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.”
Iranian officials rejected what they called threats and coercion. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran was ready to “immediately and powerfully respond” to any aggression. “Iran has always welcomed a mutually beneficial, fair and equitable nuclear deal,” Araghchi said, insisting the country has never sought nuclear weapons.
No official negotiations are currently underway, according to Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, although he acknowledged “exchanges of messages.”
Turkey, meanwhile, offered to mediate. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in a phone call Friday that Ankara was willing to help de-escalate tensions, according to his office.
The warning comes amid continued unrest in Iran, where protests that began in December over a currency collapse have turned into a broader challenge to the ruling clerics. Trump previously stated the U.S. would "come to the rescue" if authorities used violence against demonstrators.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana) reports at least 6,479 people have been killed since protests began, including over 6,000 demonstrators and 118 children. Iran’s government puts the toll at over 3,100, claiming most were security forces or civilians killed by “rioters.”
The European Union has responded by adding Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to its terrorist list and imposing new sanctions on multiple Iranian individuals and entities.
(jh)
Source: BBC, PAP, Reuters