Trump warns Tehran, make a deal or prepare for ‘more brutal’ strikes

Hours after Israel carried out widespread attacks inside Iran, US President Donald Trump has warned the regime that it should make a deal with the United States if it does not want to get wiped off the map.

Trump, who had advised Israel as recently as yesterday, said in a post on Truth Social that he had repeatedly urged Iran to make a deal but Iranian leaders continued to stick to bravado and they paid the price. He said that all of those leaders are now dead.

“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…Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all dad now, and it will only get worse!” said Trump.

Israel in the early hours of Friday struck Iran’s nuclear sites, assassinated top commanders and officials, and hit scores of military targets. Israel has said that Iran nearing the point of no return in the development of nuclear weapon and it had no option other than taking military action.

Referring to the Israeli attack, Trump said that he had warned Iran that Israel has the best weapons in the world made by the United States and that any attack would “be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told”.

“There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. 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!” said Trump.

Trump hailed the Israeli attack as “excellent” but refused to answer the question about the US involvement.

“I think it’s been excellent. We gave them a chance and they didn’t take it. They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you’re going to get hit. And there’s more to come. A lot more,” Trump told ABC News.

The Trump administration has held five rounds of talks with Iran regarding the country’s nuclear programme. The two sides are at loggerheads regarding the issue of uranium enrichment, with the Trump administration stressing that Iran should not retain any enrichment capabilities and Iran saying that it should retain enrichment capabilities for purported civilian proposals.

Trump earlier this week rejected a counter-proposal submitted by Iran in response to a ‘bridge proposal’ floated by Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East Envoy.