WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Agencies): President Donald Trump warned Iran on Thursday it must make a deal over its nuclear program or "really bad things" will happen, and set a deadline of 10 to 15 days, drawing a threat from Tehran to retaliate against US bases in the region if attacked.
Amid a massive US military buildup in the Middle East that has fueled fears of a wider war, Trump said negotiations with Iran to end the tense standoff were going well but demanded that Tehran reach a "meaningful" agreement.
"Otherwise bad things happen," Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran, told the first meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington.
Trump spoke of the US airstrikes carried out in June, saying Iran's nuclear potential had been "decimated," adding "we may have to take it a step further or we may not."
"You'll be finding out over the next probably 10 days," he said. Asked later to elaborate, he told reporters aboard Air Force One: "I would think that would be enough time, 10, 15 days, pretty much maximum."
But he declined to be specific, except to warn again of "really bad things" and insist that Iran would have to make a deal one way or another.
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Tehran said it would not start any war but that "in the event that it is subjected to military aggression, Iran will respond decisively and proportionately" in its exercise of the right of self-defence.
Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran would be ready to submit its plan for a nuclear agreement to the United States in the coming days, after President Donald Trump threatened military action.
"The next step for me is to present draft of possible deal to my counterparts in the US. I believe that in the next two, three days, that would be ready, and after final confirmation by my superiors, that would be handed over to Steve Witkoff," Araghchi said in an interview published online on Friday with the Morning Joe show on US TV network MSNBC.
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