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U.S: President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Iran on Saturday over the stalled negotiations on its nuclear program, saying Tehran would face severe consequences if it refused to reach an agreement, even as diplomatic efforts remained mired in mutual accusations and failed proposals. In a telephone interview with French broadcaster BFMTV, Trump expressed uncertainty about whether a deal was imminent.
"I have no idea. If they don't, they're going to have a very bad time," Trump told the network, before adding that Tehran had "an interest in reaching an agreement."
The remarks came amid reports that Trump was weighing in the coming hours whether to authorize a resumption of military strikes against Iran, following a series of negotiating rounds that have so far produced no lasting resolution.
Regional tensions have remained acute since the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, a campaign that triggered retaliatory attacks by Tehran against Israel and US allies in Gulf states and led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which a significant share of global oil supplies flows.
A ceasefire brokered through Pakistani mediation took effect on April 8, but subsequent talks in Islamabad collapsed without a durable accord. Trump later extended the truce indefinitely while maintaining a naval blockade on vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports through the strait.
The diplomatic standoff has been shaped by sharply divergent sequencing demands. Washington has insisted on resolving the nuclear file before hostilities formally end, while Tehran has demanded an end to the fighting and the lifting of the blockade before it will discuss its nuclear program in earnest.
Trump has said he rejected Iran's most recent peace proposal outright after finding its opening terms "unacceptable," claiming he discarded it upon reading the first sentence.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added to the mounting acrimony this week, accusing the Trump administration of sending contradictory signals. "We are in doubt about their seriousness," Araghchi said, adding that mixed messaging from Washington had made Tehran "reluctant about the real intentions of Americans."
Separately, Trump announced late Friday that a joint US-Nigerian military operation had killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, whom he described as the second-in-command of Daesh globally. Al-Minuki, 44, a Nigerian national from Borno State in the country's northeast, had reportedly held a senior position within the organization since 2018 and was designated a specially designated global terrorist by the US State Department in 2023.
"With his removal, Daesh's global operation is greatly diminished," Trump wrote on Truth Social, calling al-Minuki "the most active terrorist in the world." Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu confirmed the operation, describing it as a "significant example of effective collaboration in the fight against terrorism."
According to Tinubu, early assessments confirmed al-Minuki's elimination, along with several of his lieutenants, during a strike on a compound in the Lake Chad Basin. The Nigerian Army said the precision air-land operation was carried out in Metele, Borno State.
The announcement came after the US struck what it said were extremist bases in northwestern Nigeria on Christmas Day last year, following accusations by Trump that Christians were being persecuted in the country, allegations the Nigerian government has denied.
The joint operation also follows an earlier US deployment of approximately 200 troops and drone assets to Nigeria in a non-combat advisory and intelligence role to support Nigerian forces against Daesh and al-Qaeda-linked insurgencies spreading across West Africa.
Trump thanked the Nigerian government for its cooperation and said al-Minuki would "no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans."
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