US President Donald Trump said Iran can either make a deal or "get annihilated," adding that the Islamic Republic has refused to acknowledge multiple deals already agreed to.
The United States and Israel are preparing for joint attacks on Iran to resume as soon as next week, according to a New York Times report on Friday, citing two Middle East officials.
The officials, who wished to remain anonymous, told the NYT that the US and Israel are engaged in "intense preperations" for a potential resumption of hostilities, noting them as the most significant preperations since a Pakistani-brokered ceasefire was established in early April.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told lawmakers on Tuesday that the US "has a plan to escalate, if necessary."
"We have a plan to retrograde, if necessary. We have a plan to shift assets,” said Hegseth.
US President Donald Trump told Fox News on Friday that Iran has refused to acknowledge multiple deals already agreed to.
“Every time they make a deal, the next day it’s like we didn’t have that conversation,” said Trump.
Included in the deal was a requirement for Iran to transfer its enriched uranium to the US, which would have to extract the deeply buried material.
Trump: US prefers to take uranium
According to the NYT, Iranian Parliament National Security Spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei threatened that the country may boost uranium enrichment to 90% if attacks resume.
Trump told Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Thursday that he would prefer to “get it [the uranium]” rather than leave it “entombed” in Iranian rubble.
"I just feel better if I got it, actually," said Trump. "But it's, I think, it's more for public relations than it is for anything else."
Trump added that he is not going to be “much more patient” with Iran’s leadership, adding that they can either make a deal or "get annihilated."
"Any sane person would make a deal," said Trump, "but they might be crazy."
Goldie Katz and Reuters contributed to this report.
