The White House responded on Saturday to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had rejected President Donald Trump’s call for negotiations on the country’s nuclear program.
"We hope the Iran Regime puts its people and best interests ahead of terror," White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement, reiterating almost word for word the choice of negotiations or military action that Trump presented to Iran.
Earlier on Saturday, Khamenei said that his country will not be "bullied" into negotiations on its nuclear program.
During a meeting with senior Iranian officials, Khamenei said that the US aims to "impose their own expectations" on Iran, the country's state media reported.
The US is "bringing up new demands that certainly will not be accepted by Iran, like our defense capabilities, missile range and international influence," he added.
He further stated that "some bullying governments" insist on negotiations as "a pathway to have new demands" instead of to resolve problems. "Iran will definitely not accept their expectations," he added.
On Friday, Trump told Fox News that he sent a letter to Khamenei, demanding that Iran negotiate.
The letter said that Trump prefers to hold negotiations with Iran, but if there is no chance that negotiations will succeed, then the other alternative is "to do something, because Iran cannot have nuclear weapons."
Trump also said that the US will take the necessary steps to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear capabilities.
"If Iran doesn't negotiate, it will be very ugly for them," he told Fox. "Iran can’t have nukes. Other options are available."
Later on Friday, Trump said that something related to Iran is "going to happen very soon."
"We have a situation with Iran that something's going to happen very soon, very, very soon. You'll be talking about that pretty soon, I guess," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office.
"And hopefully we can have a peace deal," he added. "You know, I'm not speaking out of strength or weakness. I'm just saying I'd rather see a peace deal than the other [option], but the other will solve the problem."
Last month, Trump reinstated his "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran, imposing new sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The policy mirrors the aggressive sanctions strategy his administration enforced during his first term in office.
Despite the escalating sanctions, Trump has reiterated his willingness to engage in nuclear negotiations with Iran. “I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper,” the president stated in a social media post on February 5.
He has also said that he would rather reach a deal with Iran on its nuclear program than have Israel attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.