US President Donald Trump said on Monday he believed talks with Iran could lead to a deal that ensures long-term peace for Israel, while signaling uncertainty over the whereabouts of Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
Trump told reporters that Israel would likely support any agreement reached with Tehran, adding that recent contacts with Israeli officials had been positive.
“I think Israel will be very happy with what we have,” Trump said. “This will be peace for Israel - long-term peace, guaranteed peace if this happens.”
He said Iran had initiated contact and showed willingness to negotiate, though he stressed any deal must prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Trump says Iran must give up nuclear ambitions
Trump said the central condition of any agreement would be that Iran abandon its nuclear program.
“They’re not going to have nuclear weapons anymore. They’re agreeing to that,” he said.
He added that if a deal is reached, the United States would take control of Iran’s enriched uranium. “We’ll go down and we’ll take it ourselves,” he said.
Trump also said he believed recent US military strikes had significantly set back Iran’s nuclear capabilities, warning that without such action Tehran could have developed a weapon within weeks.
“If we didn’t hit them … they would have had a nuclear weapon within two weeks to a month,” he said.
Trump signals openness to oil flows despite sanctions questions
The president said he supported allowing Iranian oil already at sea to enter global markets, arguing that increasing supply would help stabilize the system.
“I just want to have as much oil in the system as possible,” Trump said, adding it was unclear how much revenue Iran would ultimately receive.
“Any small amount of money that Iran gets is not going to have any difference in this war,” he said.
Trump says Mojtaba Khamenei ‘unavailable’
Trump said Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s supreme leader, was “unavailable,” adding that his status was unclear.
“Khamenei’s son is unavailable. Nobody knows what happened to him,” Trump said. “Something is going on with him.”
He said he did not view Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s main leader but noted that several Iranian leadership groups had been targeted.
Trump points to possible political change in Iran
Trump suggested that a form of political transition could emerge in Iran, saying many senior figures had been removed.
“There’s automatically a regime change,” he said, while adding that the United States was in contact with individuals he described as “reasonable” and “respected.”
He also said oil prices could fall sharply if an agreement is reached.
“The price of oil will drop like a rock as soon as a deal is done,” Trump said.
Trump says deal is possible but not guaranteed
Trump said negotiations were ongoing and expressed cautious optimism about the outcome.
“We have a very serious chance of making a deal,” he said. “I think if I were a betting man, I’d bet for it. But again, I’m not guaranteeing anything.”
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.