Kamal Ghorui
US President Donald Trump once again warned Iran to “come to the table” to negotiate an “equitable” deal, clarifying “no nuclear weapons”, or be ready for an attack far “worse” than the Operation Midnight Hammer. Tehran rejected talks with the States saying that negotiations were not possible in an “atmosphere of threats”.Repeating his “Armada” fleet claim, Trump said that it was heading towards Iran and was “ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary”.“A massive Armada is heading to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela. Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary,” he said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday. Iran foreign minister Abbas Araghchi rejected any scope of negotiations and said that “diplomacy through military threat cannot be effective”.“Conducting diplomacy through military threat cannot be effective or useful. One cannot speak of talks in an atmosphere of threats,” AFP quoted Araghchi saying.Trump further said that the deal should be “good for all parties”, without any nuclear weapons, warning that failure to do so would could have grave consequences for Iran. “Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was “Operation Midnight Hammer,” a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again,” he said.Meanwhile, Araghchi said that if US wanted talks, it must give up on “excessive demands” and “illogical issues”.“If they want negotiations to take shape, they must certainly set aside threats, excessive demands and raising illogical issues,” Araghchi said.“Iran has not sought negotiations,” he added.An IRGC commander warned that neighbouring countries would be deemed hostile if their “soil, sky, or waters are used against Iran,” even as he stressed that they are otherwise “our friends.”Saudi Arabia said it will not allow its territory or airspace to be used for an attack on Iran.
