US President Donald Trump on Thursday warned Iran it must reach a meaningful nuclear agreement with the United States within two weeks or face consequences, as reports indicate Washington is considering limited strikes to force a deal.
Speaking at the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace initiative in Washington, Trump hinted at a narrow timeframe for progress and reiterated US demands on Tehran’s nuclear program.
“It’s proven to be, over the years, not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran. We have to make a meaningful deal; otherwise, bad things happen,” Trump said. “And you’re going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days.”
He added that Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon” and must halt actions Washington views as threatening to regional stability, suggesting that military measures could follow if diplomacy fails.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is weighing an initial, limited strike on Iran as leverage to compel Tehran to accept US conditions in nuclear talks.
The report said Trump is reviewing targeted military options that could be executed within days if Iran refuses to halt enrichment activity, with the aim of strengthening US negotiating leverage without immediately triggering a broader conflict.
Also on Thursday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz doubled down on Washington’s pressure campaign in media appearances, accusing Tehran of stalling negotiations and saying that economic sanctions have strained the Iranian leadership.
“Even in the face of world condemnation over the killing of somewhere between 18,000 and 40,000 of their own people — an industrial-sized massacre,” Waltz said in an interview with Fox News.
Waltz said sustained pressure would continue even as diplomatic engagement moves forward.
'Obvious gap remains'
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, said on Thursday that an “obvious” gap remains between the United States and Iran over uranium enrichment after attending talks in Geneva on Tuesday.
“It is clear that there is, there is this gap which is, which is obvious, between the position of the United States, which is demanding… no enrichment at all, and what Iran would like to continue to be doing,” Grossi told CNN. He added that while the agency has been allowed back into Iran, inspectors have not been granted access to the nuclear sites targeted in US-Israeli airstrikes in June.
Grossi said he believes the 400 kg of enriched uranium remains “where it was” before the bombings and has not been moved.
