Seoul Gazette - Trump invites Iran leader to nuclear talks -- or else

Iran's foreign minister told AFP on Friday that his country would not negotiate so long as the United States applies "maximum pressure," but he was not responding directly to Trump's letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Trump's outreach marks a departure at least in tone from the hardline stance that marked his first term and could put him at odds with close ally Israel, which last year carried out bombing strikes inside Iran.

"Hopefully we can have a peace deal," Trump told reporters at the White House, saying "we're at the final moments" on the Iranian nuclear program.

"I'd rather see a peace deal than the other," he said of military action. "But the other will solve the problem."

Trump earlier revealed the letter in an interview on Fox Business in which he said he told Khamenei: "I hope you're going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily it's going to be a terrible thing for them."

It was unclear how Trump sent the letter, which Iran's mission to the United Nations said it has not received.

Former president Barack Obama negotiated a landmark 2015 deal that promised sanctions relief in return for Iran curbing its nuclear program.

Trump denounced the agreement and pulled out in 2018 during his first term, over the objections of European allies. He instead imposed sweeping unilateral US sanctions on any other country buying Iran's oil.

Tehran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, initially adhered to the deal but then rolled back commitments.

US officials estimate Iran would now need mere weeks to build a nuclear bomb if it chooses to.

On his return to the White House, Trump said he was reinstating -- but only reluctantly -- his "maximum pressure" policy on Iran.

He has since sidelined officials from his first term associated with the hard line, and has vowed to break out of a foreign policy establishment he describes as war-mongering.

Trump's brash billionaire confidant Elon Musk was reported to have met Iran's ambassador to the United Nations shortly after the election to deliver a message that Trump wants calm and diplomacy.

- Iran warns against US threats -

Iran has been cautious about returning to diplomacy.

"We will not enter any direct negotiations with the US so long as they continue their maximum pressure policy and their threats," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told AFP on Friday.

Speaking on the sidelines of an Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Jeddah, Araghchi also warned that Iran's nuclear program "cannot be destroyed through military operations."

"This is a technology that we have achieved, and the technology is in the brains and cannot be bombed," he said.

Araghchi was a key negotiator of the 2015 deal, brokered by a then reformist government.

Khamenei, 85, is the decision-maker in Iran's clerical system and has pointed to Trump's withdrawal in 208 as proof the United States cannot be trusted.

But Iran is facing challenges not seen since the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution that overthrew the pro-Western shah.

Israel devastated Iranian air defenses and has also pounded two militant movements allied with Tehran's clerics: Hamas, which carried out the unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Iran's main regional ally, Syria's Bashar al-Assad, fell in December to Sunni Islamist-led fighters.

- War if not? -

Former president Joe Biden backed returning to the 2015 deal but talks collapsed in part over the extent of sanctions relief.

The National Iranian American Council, which supports engagement, said Trump should remain personally invested to show his commitment to diplomacy.

"If Iran's leadership insists on waiting for the stars to align perfectly for negotiations, the window for negotiations is very likely to close and the risks of war will greatly increase to the detriment of all," said the group's president, Jamal Abdi.

But Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Iran could use Trump's offer to buy time on its way to a nuclear weapon.

"Tehran has set a trap for him, hoping to lure him into endless diplomacy that is used to blunt maximum pressure and dampen the credibility of an American or Israeli military option," he said.

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P.Hwang--SG