President Donald Trump issued a fresh warning to Iran during a meeting of his Board of Peace on Thursday, saying Tehran must reach an agreement with the United States over its nuclear programme or risk “bad things”.
Trump laid out what appeared to be a new 10-day deadline for Iran to avoid military action, describing talks between American and Iranian officials as “good”. He stressed that Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon” and warned that “bad things will happen” if no deal is reached.
The comments follow talks in Geneva that ended without a breakthrough, as a large number of US warplanes, including F-35, F-22 and F-16 jets, and two aircraft carrier groups assemble in the Middle East. Trump suggested on Wednesday that attacking Iran from Diego Garcia or RAF Fairford might be “necessary”.
In response, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned this week that the US “may be struck so hard that it cannot get back up” if it renews attacks. Tehran has also closed the Strait of Hormuz for the first time since the 1980s for naval drills, and on Thursday conducted further exercises with Russia in the Sea of Oman.
The US last carried out strikes on Iran last summer, when B-2 bombers dropped bunker-busting weapons on three Iranian nuclear facilities. Trump has claimed the strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme but continues to demand that Tehran abandon it.
