In a dramatic turn following sweeping military strikes, Iran leadership agrees to talks, President Donald Trump said Sunday, signaling a possible diplomatic opening just 24 hours after the United States and Israel targeted Iran’s military and political command structure.
The strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with several senior officials, marking one of the most consequential escalations in the region in decades.
“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” Trump told The Atlantic in an interview published Sunday. “They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.”
From “Major Combat Operations” to Diplomacy
Trump’s remarks were among his first public comments since announcing on Truth Social early Saturday that the U.S. had launched what he described as “major combat operations in Iran.”
He declined to specify when discussions might occur.
“I can’t tell you that,” he said when asked whether talks would take place Sunday or later in the week, noting that several Iranian officials previously involved in negotiations were 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 — that was a big hit,” Trump said. “They should have done it sooner. They could have made a deal. They played too cute.”
The president suggested the military campaign, which he portrayed as swift and overwhelming, was long overdue.
“People have wanted to do it for 47 years,” he said. “They’ve killed people for 47 years, and now it’s reversed on them.”
