Iran has formally responded to a letter from US President Donald Trump on fresh negotiations to resolve the nuclear crisis. While making an offer for peace, however, Trump also issued a two-month notice, threatening military action if no deal was reached within the time frame. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed on Thursday that Iran gave its written reply via Oman, the Gulf state that is acting as an intermediary. Oman has reportedly briefed the US on Iran’s position and will soon transmit the letter to the White House. While exact details of the Iranian response remain a secret, Tehran has indicated its willingness to continue indirect back-channel diplomacy to defuse the crisis.
Trump’s letter to Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was sent three weeks ago through the United Arab Emirates. The White House envoy, Steve Witkoff, passed it on to UAE authorities. Emirati diplomat Anwar Gargash delivered it to Araghchi in Tehran on March 12. In the letter, Trump pressed Iran to negotiate directly, a demand Araghchi rejected, citing the ongoing "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions and military threats against his country.
Iran remains open to indirect talks, a method used previously. "Our policy remains unchanged: no direct negotiations under pressure, but indirect discussions can proceed," Araghchi said at a press conference, according to Iran’s IRNA news agency. Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Khamenei, also suggested that Tehran had not entirely ruled out talks. "We are prepared for indirect negotiations to assess the US, present our conditions, and decide accordingly," he told state media yesterday.
Tensions, meanwhile, have escalated as the US recently deployed three B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to Diego Garcia, a British-owned base in the Indian Ocean. The B-2s, known as ‘ghosts of the sky’, can outwit even advanced radars and other detection systems and strike with surgical precision. They can perform intercontinental missions without refuelling, and Diego Garcia is a lot closer to the Middle East than their operational base in Missouri. An American official described the move as tied to Trump’s deadline, noting the bombers’ capacity to deploy bunker-busting bombs capable of targeting Iran’s underground nuclear sites. The US Strategic Command, however, framed the deployment as routine, aimed at deterring and, if needed, countering strategic threats to the US and its allies.
Trump first revealed his outreach to Khamenei during a television interview three weeks ago. "We’re in the final moments with Iran," he warned. "I’d prefer a peace deal, but the alternative will resolve it." Since exiting the 2015 nuclear accord in 2018— a deal curbing Iran’s nuclear activities for sanctions relief—Trump has intensified sanctions. The International Atomic Energy Agency reports Iran has since stockpiled enough fissile material for several bombs, though Tehran insists that its nuclear programme is intended solely for energy purposes.
Clearly, Trump sees an opening. With all major Iranian proxies, such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis under maximum pressure and the Iranian economy in free fall, the White House thinks there could be an opportunity to either persuade or coerce Iran into a nuclear deal. But the Iranians are savvy negotiators and Khamenei cannot afford to be seen as making major concessions to the “great satan”.
