President Trump said he sent a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week asking that the two leaders "negotiate" over the Islamic republic's nuclear program. On Saturday, the Iranian leader condemned the effort by unnamed "bullying governments" to make a deal over the program.
Trump said the alternative to talks is force during an interview with Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures.
"There are two ways Iran can be handled, militarily or you make a deal," Trump said. "I would prefer to make a deal, because I'm not looking to hurt Iran. They're great people. I know so many Iranians from this country."
The president went on to criticize Iran's leadership, but said he's written Iran's supreme leader personally asking to talk. Khamenei rebuffed the outreach Saturday during a meeting with government and military officials.
"The insistence of some bullying governments to negotiate is not to solve problems, but to impose their own expectations," Khamenei said, according to state media. "The Islamic Republic of Iran will definitely not accept their expectations."
Iran's nuclear program has been the subject of Western scrutiny for nearly two decades. Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for energy use only, but the U.S. and its allies say Iran's program is a front for a nuclear weapons bomb.
On Sunday, Iran seemed to open the door to limited negotiations. Its UN mission posted on X that Iran would discuss the "militarization" of its nuclear program, but the "dismantlement" of its program is a non-starter.
"Should the aim be the dismantlement of Iran's peaceful nuclear program to claim that what Obama failed to achieve has now been accomplished, such negotiations will never take place," Iran's UN Mission said.
While Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes, its officials have recently threatened to create a bomb in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, according to a recent House resolution by Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla. And weapons-grade uranium production has increased, according to the Associated Press.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News the deal he wants to reach with Iran.
"Here's what a good deal looks like to me," Graham, an influential foreign policy voice in the Senate, said. "No more enrichment for Iran. Take all the highly enriched uranium out of Iran — I'm willing to buy it from them and allow them to have nuclear power where fuel rods are provided by Russia or China or some international group."
In short, Graham said he wants to eliminate Iran's "nuclear capability to make a bomb."
Trump summarized his message to Iran's leader.
"I said, 'I hope you're going to negotiate, because it's going to be a lot better for Iran,'" Trump recounted to Fox News' Maria Bartiromo. "And I think they want to get that letter. The other alternative is, we have to do something, because you can't let them have a nuclear weapon."
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