Trump urges Iran to make nuclear deal or face naval armada

U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran that a massive armada was headed to the Middle Eastern country. If Iran doesn’t make a deal with the United States regarding its contested nuclear program, Iran could face a U.S. military attack, the president wrote on social media. Trump said the armada was moving quickly to fulfill its mission, with violence if necessary. He said he hoped Iran would negotiate a fair and equitable agreement not to produce weapons with its nuclear program. Iran has claimed its nuclear program is for civilian power and research, peaceful purposes.

Trump’s latest military threats followed his warning to Iran last week that he would use an armada against it if the country’s government kept killing protesters or restarted its nuclear program, according to Reuters. Iranians have been protesting the country’s economic crisis, alongside a collapsing currency and spiking inflation. More than 5,800 demonstrators have been killed in Iran, according to a Tuesday report from Human Rights Activists News Agency.

How has Iran responded to Trump? The country’s mission to the United Nations said that if pushed, Iran will defend itself and respond like never before. When the United States stumbled into Middle East wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it wasted trillions of dollars and lost thousands of American lives, it said in a social media post.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Iran’s state media that he had not been in contact with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in the past few days. Witkoff had not recently requested any negotiations for the nuclear program or otherwise, Araqchi said. 

Dig deeper: Read Lauren Smyth’s report on the World Economic Forum’s decision not to invite Iran to Davos this year.