Trump again uses intmidating language against Iran

TEHRAN, May 16 (MNA) – US President Donald Trump has re-escalated his hostile rhetoric against Iran, warning of unspecified consequences if Tehran fails to act swiftly on what he called an American “proposal.”

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17 May 2025

EghtesadOnline: Speaking aboard Air Force One after concluding a Persian Gulf tour on Friday, the US president said that the Islamic Republic had received the alleged proposal from his administration and cautioned about what he referred to as Tehran’s not heeding the urgency of a response, Press TV reported.

“They have a proposal. More importantly, they know they have to move quickly or something bad—something bad's going to happen,” he told reporters.

Tehran has not yet made any comments about the alleged proposal.

Throughout his previous tenure as the US president from 2017 to 2021, and his underway incumbency, Trump has rarely abandoned his adversarial language concerning Iran.

He has maintained the discourse, although the two sides have been engaged in indirect talks since April.

The rhetoric has compounded his deployment of the so-called “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

The campaign, initiated under his previous presidential term, saw him take the United States out of a historic 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world countries, re-introduce Washington’s sanctions on the Iranian nation, and even begin levying more coercive economic measures.

Iranian authorities have, however, unexceptionally rejected Washington’s intimidatory approach and warned about its contradiction with diplomacy.

Most recently, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi emphasized that Iran would not dismantle any of its nuclear facilities -- as repeatedly pursued by the US and some of its allies.

The top diplomat also asserted the nation's right to enrich uranium, saying, “Defending the rights of the Iranian people in the nuclear field, including enrichment, is one of these principles and rights of the people that we will not compromise on.”

President Masoud Pezeshkian has also addressed the issue, stating that threats did not work against the nation and that the Islamic Republic remained resolute in its pursuit of peaceful nuclear energy activities, national development, and regional peace.

Tehran has also roundly spurned the prospect of allowing matters other than the nuclear issue and removal of the American sanctions, such as the country’s defensive might and regional influence, to be turned into negotiable subject matters in any diplomatic process.