Donald Trump said Sunday that Iran’s political leadership had agreed to negotiations, a day after the United States and Israel began striking the nation’s military and political infrastructure, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior officials.
“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” Trump told a reporter from Atlantic magazine on Sunday. “They should have done it earlier. They could have taken the simple, practical steps sooner. They waited too long.”
These remarks were among the first from the president since he posted on Truth Social early Saturday that the United States had started “major combat operations in Iran.”
Trump did not specify whether any talks would occur on Sunday or the following week, telling Atlantic’s Michael Scherer, “I can’t tell you that,” and noting that some Iranian officials previously involved in discussions had been killed.
“Most of those people are gone. Some of the people we were dealing with are gone, because that was a big – that was a big hit,” he said. “They should have done it sooner … they could have made a deal. They should’ve done it sooner. They played too cute.”
He suggested that decisive strikes against Iran’s theocratic leadership and military were fully justified. “People have wanted to do it for 47 years. They’ve killed people for 47 years, and now it’s reversed on them.”
He also told Fox News on Sunday that 48 leaders had been killed in the strikes and told CNBC that U.S. military operations in Iran were “ahead of schedule.”
“It’s moving along. It’s moving along rapidly. This has been this way for 47 years,” he was quoted as saying in an interview with a Fox News reporter. “It’s moving along rapidly. Nobody can believe the success we’re having, 48 leaders are gone in one shot. And it’s moving along rapidly.”
The brief interviews on Sunday followed the president’s statement to the Washington Post shortly after the strikes: “All I want is freedom for the people. I want a safe nation, and that’s what we’re going to have.”
Trump was noncommittal in his latest comments to the Atlantic about whether the United States would extend a bombing campaign to support a popular uprising.
“I have to look at the situation at the time it happens,” he said. “You can’t give an answer to that question.” He reportedly expressed confidence in a successful public uprising, noting celebrations in Iran and among Iranian expatriates in the United States.
But he warned: “Knowing it’s very dangerous, knowing I’ve told everybody to stay in place – I think it’s a very dangerous place right now. The people over there are shouting in the streets with happiness, but at the same time, there are a lot of bombs coming down.”
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