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“I want to make a deal with Iran. I want to do something if possible. But for that to happen, it must stop sponsoring terror, halt its bloody proxy wars, and permanently and verifiably cease its pursuit of nuclear weapons. They cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said in a fiery address, according to Fox News.
Trump’s unwavering message may have struck a chord in Tehran. Ali Shamkhani, one of the most powerful figures in Iran — serving as a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — signaled a surprising openness to a deal. In an exclusive with NBC News, Shamkhani outlined a series of major concessions Iran would be willing to make.
According to the report, Shamkhani said Iran could “commit to never making nuclear weapons, getting rid of its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium which can be weaponized, agree to enrich uranium only to the lower levels needed for civilian use, and allow international inspectors to supervise the process, in exchange for the immediate lifting of all economic sanctions on Iran.”
Asked if such an agreement could be signed immediately if Washington accepted those terms, Shamkhani didn’t hesitate. “Yes,” he said.
He added, “It’s still possible. If the Americans act as they say, for sure we can have better relations… it can lead to a better situation in the near future.”
Still, not all in Iran seem ready to play nice. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian offered a blistering response to Trump’s tough posture. “He thinks he can come here, chant slogans, and scare us. For us, martyrdom is far sweeter than dying in bed,” Pezeshkian said defiantly. “You came to frighten us? We will not bow to any bully.”
Shamkhani, too, criticized Trump’s tone, accusing him of offering false diplomacy. “He talks about an olive branch while his words are barbed wire,” Shamkhani remarked, suggesting Tehran views the American position as insincere.
But Trump showed no signs of backing down when he spoke in Qatar on Thursday, reaffirming his simple bottom line.
“I want them to succeed. I want them to end up being a great country, frankly, but they can’t have a nuclear weapon. That’s the only thing. It’s very simple,” he said, according to Fox News.
“It’s not like I have to give you 30 pages’ worth of details. There’s only one sentence. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. And I think we’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this,” Trump continued.
He then described the two stark paths ahead: “There’s a very, very nice step, and there’s a violent step. There’s violence like people haven’t seen before, and I hope we’re not going to have to do this. I don’t want to do the second step. Some people do. Many people do. I don’t want to do that step.”
Closing his remarks on a more optimistic note, Trump hinted at what success could look like: “So we’ll see what happens, but we’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace. And if we do that, it’ll be fantastic.”
With both sides posturing aggressively — but also cracking open the door to a possible breakthrough — the world is watching closely. Will Iran agree to a new deal and step back from the nuclear brink, or will Trump’s warning of an “unfriendly” alternative come to pass? Time, and Tehran’s next move, will tell.
