The Iranian Foreign Minister said on Friday (20) that he expected to have a counterproposal ready in the coming days, after nuclear talks with the United States this week, while the U.S. president, Donald Trump, said he was considering limited military strikes.
Two American officials told Reuters that the U.S. military planning on Iran had reached an advanced stage, with options that include targeting specific individuals and even seeking a change in Tehran’s leadership if ordered by Trump.
On Thursday (19), Trump gave Tehran a 10 to 15 day deadline to reach an agreement to resolve its long-running nuclear dispute or face “really bad things”, amid a U.S. military buildup in the Middle East that has fed fears of a broader war.
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Asked on Friday whether he was considering a limited strike to pressure Iran to close a deal, Trump told reporters at the White House: “I think I can say that I am considering”.
Later, questioned about Iran at a White House news briefing, Trump added: “It would be better if they negotiated a fair deal.”
Earlier, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said after indirect discussions in Geneva this week with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner that the parties had reached an understanding on the main “guiding principles,” but that did not mean a deal was imminent.
Araqchi, in an interview with MS NOW, said that he had a preliminary counterproposal that could be ready in the next two or three days for analysis by the main Iranian authorities, with more negotiations between the U.S. and Iran possible in about a week.
The military action would complicate efforts to reach a deal, he added.
In his remarks, Trump said that there was a difference between the Iranian people and the country’s leadership and referred to Tehran’s recent crackdown on protests. Trump said that “32,000 people were killed in a relatively short period,” numbers that could not be immediately verified.
“It is a very, very, very sad situation,” Trump said, adding that his threats to attack Iran had led the leadership to abandon plans for mass executions two weeks ago.
“They were going to execute 837 people. And I told them that if they executed even one person, even if it was only one, they would be attacked at that moment,” he said.
The HRANA group, based in the United States, which monitors the human rights situation in Iran, recorded 7,114 confirmed deaths and says it has another 11,700 under review.
