President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he wants to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran after reimposing a “maximum pressure” campaign on the Islamic Republic.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that work should begin on such a deal “immediately.” The president said reports that the U.S. and Israel are working together to attack Iran are exaggerated.
“I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper,” Trump said in the post. The president withdrew the U.S. in 2018 from the nuclear deal negotiated by President Barack Obama, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Trump’s comments come a day after he signed a memorandum reimposing a maximum pressure campaign on the Islamic Republic. The memorandum directed the secretaries of State and Treasury to implement a campaign to drive Iran’s oil sales to zero, including exports to China.
OPEC member Iran is the third-biggest oil producer in the cartel. U.S. crude oil and global benchmark Brent futures were trading more than 1% lower on Wednesday morning.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday that he was unhappy to sign the memorandum and hoped “it’s not going to have to be used in any great measure at all.”
“We don’t want to be tough on Iran, we don’t want to be tough on anybody but they just can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. The president said he would be willing to talk to his Iranian counterpart when asked by reporters Tuesday.
Trump’s overture to Iran will be complicated by his unprecedented statements on the future of Palestinians and the Gaza Strip. The president said Tuesday during a news conference with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Palestinians should leave the Gaza Strip so the U.S. can take the enclave over and rebuild it.
Gaza has been decimated after Israel’s more than yearlong war in the enclave, launched in response to the militant group Hamas’ devastating terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire days before Trump took office.
Iran supports Hamas. The Islamic Republic and Israel launched direct strikes against each other’s territory twice last year, raising fears that the Middle East would descend into a full-scale regional war.