US President Donald Trump said he had sent a letter to Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the country's nuclear program, offering to negotiate a nuclear deal.
He told the Associated Press.
"I wrote them a letter, saying, 'I hope you'll negotiate, because if we have to intervene militarily, it would be terrible,'" Trump said. Later in an interview recorded on Thursday, he added that he had sent the letter "yesterday."
The White House confirmed Trump's words, saying that he had sent a letter to Iranian leaders seeking to negotiate a nuclear deal.
"I would prefer to negotiate a deal. I'm not sure everyone agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be as good as if you had won militarily. But the time has come. The time is coming. Something has to happen one way or another," the US President said.
He added: "I hope you go to negotiations because it would be much better for Iran, and I think they want to get this letter. The other alternative is that we have to do something because we can't let them have nuclear weapons."
Iran has long insisted its program is for peaceful purposes, though its officials have increasingly threatened to build a bomb as tensions run high with the United States over its sanctions and with Israel over a shaky ceasefire in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Iran's state news agency IRNA reported Trump's comments, citing the broadcast. There was no immediate response from the office of the 85-year-old Khamenei, who has the final say in all state affairs.
In 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, leading to economic sanctions that have crippled the country.
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