No letter received from Trump on nuclear deal, says Iran

Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations has denied US President Donald Trump’s claim that he sent a letter to Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei proposing negotiations on a new nuclear deal.

In a statement on Friday, the mission clarified, “We have not received such a letter yet.”

Trump, in an interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, asserted that he had reached out to Iran’s Supreme Leader with a proposal to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program.

“I said I hope you’re going to negotiate, because it’s going to be a lot better for Iran,” he stated, adding that military action remained an option if negotiations did not take place.

The US president also suggested that Iranian authorities might be interested in the proposal, though Tehran has consistently maintained that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran and the US have been at odds over the nuclear issue since Washington unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018, reimposing sanctions on Tehran.