Trump seeking new nuclear deal with Iran with letter to supreme leader

President Trump said Thursday he has written a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, calling on the country to negotiate a new nuclear deal with the United States.

“I’ve written them a letter saying, ‘I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing,’” the president said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” which was recorded Thursday and will air in full Sunday.

Trump’s statement comes as Israel and the U.S. have said they will never let Iran get a nuclear weapon, sparking concerns about a military confrontation. Tehran has been enriching uranium to levels close to those suitable for weapons, a level of purity that is typically desired by nuclear-armed countries.

According to The Associated Press, the White House confirmed Trump’s remarks, saying he wrote a letter to Iran’s leaders seeking to work on a nuclear deal. Khamenei’s office did not confirm if it received the president’s letter.

On Wednesday, Trump wrote on his social platform Truth Social that the U.S. should strike a nuclear peace deal with Iran, reiterating his stance that the Islamic Republic should not have nuclear weapons.

“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,” he said.

Trump’s tougher stance on Iran is similar to the approach he took during his first term, when he withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear agreement that was formulated during former President Obama’s administration in 2015. The U.S.’s decision to withdraw led to sanctions against Iran that affected the country’s economy.