President Donald Trump lashed out at Iran on Sunday, accusing Tehran of “playing games” and delaying negotiations after the Islamic republic refused to discuss its nuclear program in the latest round of peace talks.

“Iran has been playing games with the United States, and the rest of the World, for 47 years (DELAY, DELAY, DELAY!” Trump wrote in a blistering post on his Truth Social platform. He warned the Iranians “will be laughing no longer” and slammed them for “killing our people” and “destroying protests.”

Trump later posted on Truth Social: “I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

The angry missives came hours after Iran delivered its response to the U.S. peace proposal through Pakistani mediators. Tehran’s reply did not address the country’s controversial nuclear program, a key sticking point that has bedeviled diplomats through multiple rounds of on-again, off-again negotiations stretching back to the Obama administration.

Satellite images released last year showed new tunnel construction near Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility, sparking fears that the country could be preparing to ramp up uranium enrichment. The U.S. and its allies have long accused Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, a charge Iranian leaders vehemently deny.

Trump, who has made confronting Iran a centerpiece of his foreign policy, pulled the U.S. out of the 2016 nuclear deal and imposed crippling sanctions on Tehran. Relations hit a new low in 2023 after Iranian-backed militias killed three U.S. soldiers in Iraq, prompting Trump to order retaliatory strikes.

The standoff has left the U.S. with few good options. Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign has battered Iran’s economy but failed to bring its leaders back to the negotiating table. Further military confrontation remains a risky gamble.

For now, the prospect of a diplomatic breakthrough appears as distant as ever.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)