President Donald Trump said he told Benjamin Netanyahu he prefers a deal with Iran, but warned Tehran of consequences if talks fail, citing last June’s strikes.
"I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated. If it can, I let the Prime Minister know that will be a preference. If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be," Trump posted on Truth Social.
"Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal, and they were hit with Midnight Hammer - That did not work well for them," he added.

"I have just finished meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, of Israel, and various of his Representatives. It was a very good meeting, the tremendous relationship between our two Countries continues. There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated.
If it can, I let the Prime Minister know that will be a preference. If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be. Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal, and they were hit with Midnight Hammer — That did not work well for them. Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible. Additionally, we discussed the tremendous progress being made in Gaza, and the Region in general.
There is truly PEACE in the Middle East. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP"
A reporter on Iran’s state TV on Wednesday appeared to accidentally say “Death to Khamenei” during his sign-off in a live broadcast marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan.
Following the incident, Iran’s state broadcaster said it dismissed the provincial broadcast director and summoned several staff for disciplinary review.
The reporter's apparent slip of the tongue circulated widely online on Wednesday, alongside footage of a mosque sermon in which a speaker nearly uttered the same phrase, drawing laughter from onlookers. “Death to Khamenei” has become a recurring chant in anti-government protests, including during January’s nationwide demonstrations.
Senators Tim Kaine and Peter Welch led a group of Democratic senators in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday, calling for an immediate end to deportation flights to Iran.
They cited grave risks to deportees, including potential torture, arbitrary detention, and death, given Iran's documented human rights abuses and treatment of returnees. The senators urged the administration to suspend all such flights until safety can be assured.
In addition to Kaine and Welch, the letter was cosigned by US Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Mark Warner, Adam Schiff , Chris Van Hollen, Jeffrey Merkley, Angela Alsobrooks, Michael Bennet, Ron Wyden, Cory Booker, and Alex Padilla.
Senator John Kennedy on Wednesday defended Trump's Iran negotiations, citing a measured Venezuela-style strategy and doubts about Tehran's sincerity despite the talks.
"President Trump made a promise to Iranian people to support them... The president is in the process to keep his promise," Republican Senator from Louisiana told Iran International.
Kennedy said US decisions on dealing with the Islamic Republic will rely on Israeli intelligence assessments, adding the need for a careful strategy rather than hasty actions like bombing or deploying thousands of American troops.
"You can't just go in and start dropping bombs and committing thousands of American troops that could make things worse. You have to be strategic about this like we were in Venezuela," he added.

The message coming out of Tehran on the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution was that Iran is willing to negotiate with the United States, though it remains unclear how its declared “red lines” can be squared with Washington’s demands.
The signals of flexibility were buried beneath the usual chants of defiance and confrontational theatrics at the annual rally marking the foundation of the Islamic Republic. Coffins bearing photos of US officials were paraded through the streets. An effigy of Jeffrey Epstein was set on fire.
The messaging unfolded as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met President Donald Trump at the White House—a meeting that could reinforce calls in Washington for a harder line on Tehran.
Two dozen Western reporters were in Tehran. Some appeared delighted to meet Iranian schoolchildren speaking fluent English; others were charmed by Persian cuisine and elderly men eager to shake hands. Few seemed inclined to recall that, just four weeks earlier, thousands of protesters had reportedly been killed in those same streets.
Away from the orchestrated celebrations and from the state-approved “fixers” guiding journalists through carefully staged displays of loyalty, senior officials blended familiar defiance with cautious hints of compromise.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Iran was ready for talks about the level of enrichment and even the extent of its stockpile of enriched uranium.
“If the negotiations are meant to bear results, there needs to be some kind of compromise,” he added, acknowledging that “this is the difficult part of the job.”
Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, struck a similarly measured tone, telling Al Jazeera that talks in Oman had been positive while reiterating Tehran’s position that conflicts with Washington’s demand for stricter limits.
“There is no talk of zeroing out enrichment,” he said. “We need it in the fields of energy and pharmaceutical manufacturing.”
The comments followed Larijani’s visits to Oman and Qatar, where he reportedly delivered a red folder that some analysts suggested could contain Khamenei’s response to a message from President Trump.
Photographs show him handing a letter to the Sultan of Oman and later presenting a red envelope in Doha, despite aides’ denials that any formal message was conveyed.
In an interview with Oman’s state television, Larijani offered an unusually restrained assessment of US policy, saying Washington’s framework “has become more realistic.”
Whether these tonal shifts signal a durable change in Iran’s messaging or a tactical adjustment on a symbolic day remains unclear.
Another unusual development added to the speculation. For decades, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has marked the anniversary by meeting a delegation of Iranian Air Force officers, echoing a similar gathering with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979.
This year, he skipped the meeting and instead sent the officers to pay their respects to Hassan Khomeini, the founder’s grandson and presumed heir—a gesture that reignited the never-ending whispers of succession.






