United States President Donald Trump has revealed that Iran’s leadership has reached out to Washington to begin negotiations following Saturday’s airstrikes that reportedly killed the country’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and several senior officials.
In a telephone interview with The Atlantic, Trump said Tehran had expressed readiness for dialogue, though he described the move as coming too late.
According to the U.S. president, the request for talks followed what he characterised as a significant military setback for Iran.
“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long,” Trump said.
When pressed on when discussions might begin, he declined to provide details, noting that several Iranian officials previously involved in talks with the United States were among those reportedly killed in the strikes.
“Most of those people are gone. Some of the people we were dealing with are gone, because that was a big hit,” he added, suggesting that Iran had missed earlier opportunities to strike a deal.
Earlier on Sunday, Iranian state media reported that President Masoud Pezeshkian would lead a temporary leadership council during the country’s transitional period following Khamenei’s reported death.
Reports also indicated that about 40 high-ranking officials were killed in the coordinated strikes carried out by U.S. and Israeli forces, marking a sharp escalation in tensions between the two nations.
In a live address on Saturday, Trump stated that the operation aimed to dismantle key elements of Iran’s leadership and called on Iranian citizens to “take over their government” in the aftermath of the attack.