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President Donald Trump on Friday morning implored Iran to “make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire,” hours after Israeli strikes killed several top Iranian military officials and targeted the country’s nuclear infrastructure.
The strikes, which began Thursday night, came as the United States was gearing up for a scheduled meeting on Sunday with Iranian negotiators in order to discuss a potential nuclear deal.
“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done,” Trump wrote Friday morning on Truth Social.
“Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!” Trump added. “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!”
In a separate post, the president added that two months ago he had given Iran “a 60 day ultimatum to ‘make a deal.’ They should have done it! Today is day 61. I told them what to do, but they just couldn’t get there. Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!”
Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Israel “should expect severe punishment” for the attacks, which killed Mohammad Bagheri, commander of the Iranian military; Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; Gholamali Rashid, deputy commander of the Iranian armed forces; Amir Ali Hajizadeh, leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps airspace unit; as well as Ali Shamkhani — the lead negotiator in Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the U.S. and at least two prominent Iranian nuclear scientists.
According to a Thursday report from Reuters, ahead of the strikes the Trump administration had urged Israel against military escalation, hoping to negotiate a diplomatic solution in upcoming talks and warning that they would not involve themselves in a unilateral strike.
“Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran,” Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Thursday evening. “We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense. President Trump and the Administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners. Let me be clear: Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel.”
