Trump said in an interview with Fox Business that he had written a letter to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, asking that negotiations be reopened.

   “There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily or you make a deal. “I would prefer to make a deal, because I’m not looking to hurt Iran. They’re great people,” Trump said in the interview, a section of which was released by Fox News.

   He said the letter had been sent on Wednesday. The White House did not provide any more details.

   “I would rather negotiate a deal. I’m not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily,” Trump boasted.

   “But the time is happening now, the time is coming up. Something is going to happen one way or the other. I hope that Iran, and I’ve written them a letter, saying I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them,” he said.

   Iran did not immediately address Trump’s remarks.

   But Ayatollah Khamenei has already rejected negotiations with the United States. So has President Masoud Pezeshkian.

   Trump has been speaking of a keenness to negotiate with Iran since he took office for a second term in January. Nevertheless, on February 5, he signed a presidential memorandum to restore a campaign of “maximum pressure” on Iran that he had launched in his first term.

   Two days later, Ayatollah Khamenei said negotiating with the United States government “would not be wise and honorable” given Washington’s past perfidy. And on March 2, President Pezeshkian said he was committed to the position outlined by the Leader regarding negotiations with Washington even though his own view had initially been different.

   During the Fox Business interview, Trump was asked if he had given Iran “an ultimatum.”

   “No, I didn’t say, ‘You better.’ I said, ‘I hope you’re going to negotiate,’ because it will be a lot better for Iran. I think they want to get that letter. The other alternative is we have to do something because you can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,” he claimed.

   Ayatollah Khamenei has issued a religious decree (fatwa) prohibiting the development, possession, and use of nuclear weapons. Iran has repeatedly said it is not seeking to build such a weapon.

   Under the deal Trump withdrew from, Iran had given the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) enhanced access to its nuclear program to remove unsubstantiated concerns that it is pursuing a weapons program.