Trump urges Iran to make nuclear deal as conflict with Israel escalates
AP :
US President Donald Trump on Friday urged Iran to reach a nuclear agreement “before it is too late,” warning of further violence as tensions in the Middle East reach a boiling point following Israel’s devastating strikes on Iranian territory.
Trump made the appeal in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, where he blamed Iran for missing repeated chances to finalise a nuclear deal and warned of “more brutal” attacks in the future if diplomacy fails, reports BBC.
“I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, but no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done,” he wrote.
“There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end.”
“Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” Trump added.
Trump previously said he was aware of Israel’s plans before they launched strikes overnight, but made it clear the US military played no part in the operation, according to BBC.
Meanwhile, the talks between the US and Iran on a deal were about to enter their sixth round on Sunday.
On the other hand, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi strongly condemned the Israeli strikes, calling them a “declaration of war” in a letter to the United Nations, which he also shared on Telegram.
He urged the UN Security Council to “immediately address this issue” and described the attack as a “gross violation of Iran’s sovereignty.”
According to news agency AP, the Israeli strikes, which took place early Friday, targeted key military and nuclear facilities across Iran in what is being described as one of the most serious escalations between the two regional rivals in decades.
Among the targets were Iran’s main nuclear enrichment site at Natanz, where black smoke was seen rising after the attack.
The Israeli military said around 200 aircraft were involved in the operation, which hit approximately 100 targets. Two Israeli security officials, speaking anonymously due to the classified nature of the operation, claimed Mossad had deployed explosive drones inside Iran in advance, reports AP.
These drones were reportedly activated during the attack to destroy missile launchers at an Iranian base near Tehran.
They also claimed that Israel had smuggled precision-guided weapons and strike systems into central Iran, mounted on vehicles and activated as the raid commenced. These assertions, however, could not be independently confirmed, and there was no official comment from Israeli authorities.
The strikes resulted in the deaths of three top Iranian military commanders, Gen Mohammad Bagheri, who oversaw Iran’s entire armed forces; Gen Hossein Salami, commander of the Revolutionary Guard; and Gen Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Guard’s ballistic missile programme.
Their deaths mark a significant blow to Iran’s military leadership and complicate its potential response.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed the deaths and said that other high-ranking military officials and scientists had also been killed in the attack.
In its immediate response, Iran launched more than 100 drones targeting Israel. Iraq and Jordan confirmed that the drones had crossed their airspace. Israel said that the drones were intercepted outside its airspace, though it remained unclear whether any had reached their targets.
The Israeli military also reported destroying dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile sites in western Iran.