Trump says he wants new nuclear deal letting Iran ‘prosper’

AFR, Arsalan Shahla, Feb 6, 2025

Washington | US President Donald Trump said he was willing to immediately start working on a new nuclear deal with Iran that allows the country to “peacefully grow and prosper”, seemingly softening his stance on the Islamic Republic.

“Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens, ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED,” Mr Trump said in a post on his social networking site Truth Social on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT).

He didn’t give details on what such an agreement would entail, and Iranian officials haven’t yet responded to the post.

The US has long accused Tehran of using a decades-old civilian nuclear program to disguise ambitions to develop weapons, a claim repeatedly denied by Iran. The latest comments contrast with Mr Trump’s attitude in his first term, when he ordered a fatal strike on Iran’s most senior military general and prompted fears that the US would be drawn into war.

Mr Trump posted the Truth Social statement hours after signing a directive that calls for tough enforcement of existing sanctions. The move effectively revives his first-term “maximum pressure” strategy, including unilaterally quitting a landmark 2015 agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Those measures weakened Iran’s economy but failed to thwart the country’s regional ambitions and instead triggered a security crisis in the oil-rich Persian Gulf that embroiled neighbouring Saudi Arabia and sent jitters through global energy markets.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Mr Trump’s maximum pressure strategy would continue to fail. “If the main issue is ensuring that Iran doesn’t pursue nuclear weapons, that’s already a firm commitment, Iran’s position is clear,” Mr Araghchi said in comments aired on state TV.

Oil prices fell as traders weighed concerns that a trade war between the US and China will hurt global growth against the possibility of further economic pressure on OPEC member Iran.

Withstanding the pressure

Mr Araghchi said Iran was already party to the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons – a post-war international agreement seeking to prevent the spread of atomic bombs – and the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had years earlier issued an Islamic ruling forbidding them.

However, the world’s top nuclear regulator said last month Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb-grade enriched uranium continued to grow. France, Germany and the UK asked inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency to prepare a special report in the first half of 2025 about Iran’s nuclear activities.

During Mr Trump’s initial term, the “maximum pressure” regime translated into strong sanctions and tough enforcement, including chasing Iranian oil cargoes on the high seas and killing the country’s most powerful military figure in a targeted drone strike……. https://www.afr.com/world/north-america/trump-says-he-wants-new-nuclear-deal-letting-iran-prosper-20250206-p5l9y6