March 28, 2025 (EIRNS)—Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported yesterday that Tehran sent an official response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s letter earlier this month to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump has sought to launch talks on Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, but maximum sanctions on Iran had been reimposed at the time of Trump’s letter.
Further, Trump invoked the possibility of military actions if Iran did not make a deal with Washington. His language, in comments to media after announcing that he had sent his letter, conveyed his threat. “We have a situation with Iran that, something’s going to happen very soon. Very, very soon…. Hopefully we can have a peace deal. I’m not speaking out of strength or weakness. I’m just saying I’d rather see a peace deal than the other. But the other will solve the problem.”
Today, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Trump’s letter contained both threatening language and calls for diplomacy. “Of course, this letter attempts to open a window for diplomacy. We carefully examined this letter, discussed its various aspects, and relayed the response….” Yesterday, IRNA reported, Araghchi said, “This official response includes a letter in which our position regarding the current situation and Mr. Trump’s letter has been fully explained to the other party.… Our policy remains not to negotiate directly [with Washington] under ‘maximum pressure’ and the threat of military action but indirect negotiations, such as those that took place in the past, can continue.” He also made the point that their response was “appropriately sent through Oman.” Trump’s letter had been sent via the U.A.E., which Tehran does not consider as an appropriate intermediary. Neither letter has been made public.
This week’s deployment of U.S. B-2 stealth bombers to Diego Garcia, easy striking distance to Iran, has ratcheted up tensions. Today, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned of the danger of military actions: “If the Americans attack the sanctity of Iran, the entire region will blow up like a spark in an ammunition dump.”
Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Princeton University Middle East Security and Nuclear Policy Specialist at the Program on Science and Global Security, and Iran’s former Ambassador to Germany, gave a detailed presentation to today’s weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition on the obstacles to negotiations which could lead to war, as the neocons and Netanyahu government are urging, but also of the opportunities to plot another course, leading to mutually beneficial economic relations between Iran and the United States.
