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Donald Trump has warned Iran it must end its nuclear programme and stop killing protesters if the large US armada of warships deployed in the Middle East are not to be used.
The US president said protesters were being killed in their thousands, but that he had stopped Iran from carrying out executions.
Trump was speaking at the premiere of the documentary Melania as the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, landed in Turkey to discuss whether there was a basis for a deal with the US. He is due to meet the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but in his initial remarks Araghchi gave little sign of a breakthrough.
Trump told reporters he had been speaking to the Iranians and intended to do so more, but it was not clear whether he simply meant he was speaking to the Iranian government through intermediaries.
With his precise objectives in Iran sometimes unclear, Trump told reporters Iran had to do “two things” to avoid military action. “Number one, no nuclear. And number two, stop killing protesters,” the US president said, adding that “they are killing them by the thousands”.
He added: “We have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now, and it would be great if we didn’t have to use them.”
Earlier this week, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS.”
He warned that a “massive Armada is heading to Iran”, and it was “ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfil its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary”. He said time was running out for Iran, but it appears the White House is hoping the buildup of military force will lead Iran to adopt a more flexible position.
From Iran’s perspective, the US is piling ever more demands on Tehran that if all were implemented would spell the end of its sovereignty.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has called for an end to Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme, the transfer of its existing stock of highly enriched uranium out of the country, limits on Iran’s missile programme and an end to support for proxy groups in countries such as Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
Araghchi said: “Iran has always welcomed a mutually beneficial, fair and equitable nuclear deal – on equal footing, and free from coercion, threats, and intimidation – which ensures Iran’s rights to peaceful nuclear technology, and guarantees no nuclear weapons.
“Such weapons have no place in our security calculations and we have NEVER sought to acquire them,” he added.
Araghchi held separate phone calls with his counterparts from Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Turkey. All the Arab states have insisted their air ground facilities cannot be used by the US to attack Iran.
In Turkey, Araghchi criticised Thursday’s decision by the EU, likely to be followed by the UK, to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organisation.
He said: “The truth is that Europe is a declining continent and has lost its role on the international level and is losing it more and more every day, and it is surprising that they themselves are fuelling this process. This shows that Europe has neither a correct understanding of the international situation, nor a correct understanding of the conditions in our region, nor a correct understanding of its own interests. The decision they made was a major strategic mistake.”
Araghchi did not spell out what reprisals were being considered, but the UK Foreign Office has always worried that such a move would lead Iran to break off diplomatic relations.
The Iranian supreme leader’s representative in the IRGC said the European action would have serious consequences for the EU.
