Donald Trump warned on Friday that Iran would face serious repercussions if it did not agree to a nuclear deal, following Tehran’s response to his letter proposing negotiations. “I sent them a letter just recently, and I said: you have to make a decision, one way or the other, and we either have to talk and talk it out or very bad things are going to happen to Iran,” Trump informed the reporters in the Oval Office. “I don’t want that to happen. My big preference – and I don’t say this through strength or weakness – my big preference is, we work it out with Iran. But if we don’t work it out, bad, bad things are going to happen to Iran.”

After withdrawing the U.S. from the 2018 nuclear agreement that eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for nuclear restrictions, Trump now says he is willing to negotiate a new deal to lower the chances of military conflict.

At the beginning of March, the U.S. president disclosed that he had mailed a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Meanwhile, Trump continued his "maximum pressure" strategy, imposing more sanctions on Tehran and warning of possible military action if Iran refused to engage in talks. Tehran has declined direct negotiations with Washington under the current conditions but has left the door open for indirect discussions.

On Thursday, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Foreign Minister, conveyed to the IRNA news agency that he had sent a letter to Oman in response to Trump’s proposal. Oman, who had previously acted as a mediator, facilitated the exchange since Iran and the US did not have direct diplomatic ties.