US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened Iran again, saying he’ll “blow the hell out of them” in case the negotiations for a peace deal fails while asserting that America is “close” to striking an agreement with Tehran.

In an interview with NBC News on Sunday, the US President said that it wasn’t an endless war with Iran, adding “We’ve been doing this for three months; much of it has been under a pretty good form of ceasefire.”

Trump, while issuing fresh threats to Iran, said “I am gonna do it either through negotiations, where we are very close to a deal or I’m gonna blow the hell out of them…that’s actually the easier path.”

Nuclear stockpiles and enrichment demands

The US President added that the two sides are “very close” to agreeing to a peace deal and end the conflict which started on February 28. “We have a couple of points. They don’t even seem like big points,” Trump told NBC News.

Discussing about Iran’s nuclear programme, Trump said the Islamic Republic, which has for years denied American claims that it is seeking a nuclear weapon, has “conceded the fact that they will not have nuclear weapons.”

Trump said US is determined to seize and destroy Iran’s over 400 kg highly enriched uranium, either with or without Tehran. “We’ll take it out and destroy it, whether it’s on-site or whether we take it off-site.”

A Shift in assessing Iranian leadership

Trump described the current Supreme Leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei as “very smart” and “more rational” than their predecessors.

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Threats of direct confrontation from Tehran

Meanwhile, Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has warned of direct confrontation following Israel’s escalation in Lebanon’s capital Beirut.

Iran “will not only halt the path of negotiations, but we will also be in direct confrontation with the enemy,” Ghalibaf said in a post on X.

Criticisms of truce commitments and power dynamics

Lasing out at US and Israel, Iran’s parliament speaker said, “They are neither committed to a ceasefire nor believe in dialogue and by demonstrating through the naval blockade and violation of agreements regarding Lebanon that they only understand the language of power.”