In the latest chapter in the on-going saga following Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, the US president has asked the Islamic Republic to call him in order to “make a fair deal”.
Speaking at a news conference at the White House yesterday, Donald Trump told reporters that he “would like to see them [Iran] call me”.
What they should be doing is calling me up, sitting down. We can make a deal, a fair deal, we just don’t want them to have nuclear weapons – not too much to ask. And we would help put them back to great shape,” Trump said.
Trump’s conciliatory tone comes three days his administration dispatched American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the region in a move that was widely seen as an attempt to escalate tensions with Iran.
READ: US targets Iran’s metals for sanctions, Tehran relaxes nuclear deal compliance
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani threatening to resume high-level enrichment of uranium as a result of Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement and his imposition of “unprecedented sanctions”.
On Wednesday, Trump intensified tension by imposing new sanctions targeting Teheran’s revenue from its exports of industrial metals.
During yesterday’s White House interview and before his conciliatory tone, Trump was asked if he would describe the current situation with Iran as “a military confrontation” to which he replied: “I guess you could say that right… isn’t it”.
Trump then appeared to threaten Iran. Referring to the aircraft carrier dispatched a few days ago he said: “We have one of the most powerful ships in the world that’s loaded up we don’t want to have to do anything.”