President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Iran is eager to reach an agreement with the United States but continues to stop short of explicitly renouncing its pursuit of nuclear weapons, a sticking point he highlighted just hours before delivering his State of the Union address.

The President made the remarks during a meeting at the White House with television anchors from several major networks, where he discussed themes expected to feature prominently in his speech.

“Iran wants to make a deal more than I do, but they just say the sacred phrase, we won’t build nuclear weapons,” the President told the anchors, as quoted in The Hill.

A day earlier, Trump dismissed media reports claiming that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine had cautioned him against proceeding with a potential strike on Iran. The President pushed back on the characterization and rejected suggestions that he was facing internal resistance over military options.

In a separate post on Truth Social, Trump also denied reports that he was weighing limited strikes against Iranian targets. At the same time, he reiterated his warning to Tehran that failure to reach an agreement would carry serious consequences, stating that if a deal is not made, “it will be a very bad day” for them.

As tensions continue to simmer, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, cautioned that any military action against his country would have far-reaching effects.

“We call upon all nations committed to peace and justice to take meaningful steps to prevent further escalation,” Gharibabadi said during a speech at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

He further warned that an attack would not remain confined to the targeted state, stressing that those who initiate or back such measures would ultimately be held accountable for the fallout.

{Matzav.com}