US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Iran’s new leadership wants to talk to him and that he agreed, according to an interview with The Atlantic magazine.
“They want to talk, and I agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them. They should do it sooner. They should give what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long,” Trump said in the interview from his Florida residence.
Trump did not specify who he would speak with or say whether it would occur on Sunday or Monday but noted that some of the Iranians involved in negotiations in recent weeks were no longer alive.
“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, Michael. They could have made a deal. They should’ve done it sooner. They played too cute. ”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said a leadership council composed of himself, the judiciary head, and a member of the powerful Guardians Council temporarily assumed the duties of supreme leader following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
When asked whether he was willing to prolong the US bombing campaign against Iran to support a popular uprising if one unfolded, “Will they continue to get support if it takes some time to overthrow the regime?” Trump was noncommittal.
“I have to look at the situation at the time it happens, Michael. You can’t give an answer to that question,” he said. But the President also expressed confidence that a successful uprising was coming, noting the signs of celebration in the streets of Iran and supportive gatherings of expatriate Iranians in New York and Los Angeles.
“That is going to happen. You are seeing that, and I think it’s going to happen. A lot of people are extremely happy over there and in Los Angeles and in many other places,” he said. Trump told the magazine that he was pleased with Iranian people’s reaction so far.
“Knowing it’s very dangerous, knowing I told everybody to stay in place—I think it’s a very dangerous place right now,” he told me. “The people over there are shouting in the streets with happiness, but at the same time, there are a lot of bombs coming down.”
