Trump threatens to bomb Iran if nuclear deal not reached
US President Donald Trump has threatened that Iran will be bombed if it doesn’t enter a deal to curb its nuclear programme with the US.
"If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing," Trump told NBC News in an interview late on Saturday. "It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before."
Trump's language represented a sharpening of his comment a few days earlier, in which he said that if Tehran refused to negotiate a new nuclear agreement, "bad, bad things are going to happen to Iran".
It was not clear whether Trump was threatening bombing by US planes alone or perhaps in an operation coordinated with Israel.
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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei downplayed the threat on Monday but warned of retaliation if Iran is struck.
“The enmity from the US and Israel has always been there. They threaten to attack us, which we don’t think is very probable, but if they commit any mischief, they will surely receive a strong reciprocal blow,” Khamenei said.
Trump threatens Houthis with 'real pain'
Since Israel's war on Gaza erupted after the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel, several precedents have already been broken in the escalation ladder.
Iran launched direct missile and drone attacks on Israel twice. Israel has severely degraded Lebanese Hezbollah, Iran's main deterrent force. US and Israeli officials also say Israel has destroyed much of Iran's air defences in their own strikes on the Islamic Republic.
'If they [Iran] don’t make a deal, there will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before'
- US President Trump
Throughout March, the US has been amassing B-2 bombers, stealth aircraft used for precision strikes that can evade air defence systems, at Diego Garcia, an island roughly 700 kilometres south of the Maldives, home to a joint US-UK military base.
Analysts have said that the moves are a show of force to Iran.
The US is already bombing the Houthis in Yemen, who receive weapons and training from Iran. The Ansar Allah (Houthi) group operates independently of Iran, with strikes against shipping in the Red Sea and direct attacks on Israel since late 2023, which the Houthis say is in solidarity with the Palestinians.
On Monday, Trump told the Houthis to halt attacks on shipping or else they and their Iranian backers would face "real pain" from fresh air strikes.
"Stop shooting at US ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran," Trump said on Truth Social.
Trump's inner circle divided on Iran
On the surface, the Trump administration is ultra-hardline on Iran.
Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Obama administration’s 2015 nuclear accord with Iran during his first term.
Trump’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and his national security advisor Mike Waltz are hardline on Iran.
However, Trump’s inner circle is more open to a deal. Trump's Middle East envoy, and increasingly global troubleshooter, Steve Witkoff, told Fox News the administration wanted a diplomatic deal with Iran.
Elon Musk, the world's richest man and one of Trump’s closest allies, reportedly met Iran’s ambassador to the UN in New York in November. Musk has also shared social media posts revealing he is reading about Iranian history.
Tucker Carlson, the media personality close to Trump, has railed against the US entering a war with Iran.
Trump revealed in early March that he had sent a letter proposing such talks to Iran’s supreme leader.
Meanwhile, he has pushed ahead with his "maximum pressure" programme of additional sanctions and the threat of military action.
Tehran, deeply suspicious of the US administration after Trump's withdrawal from the original nuclear deal, has refused to negotiate directly with Washington.
According to NBC, Trump also said US and Iranian officials were "talking", but he did not give details.
In a video published early Sunday by Iranian state media, President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Tehran's response to Trump, delivered to intermediaries in Oman by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, said that "direct negotiations were rejected".
But, he added, "The supreme leader has also emphasised that indirect negotiations can continue."
"We do not avoid negotiations," said Pezeshkian, a reformist who has called for reviving nuclear talks with the US.
"Rather, it is their unfaithfulness that has caused problems for us so far. They must prove that they can establish trust regarding decisions, and I hope this will materialise."
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