Iran said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump’s call for a peace deal with Tehran was inconsistent with Washington’s actions, referring to its strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June.
“The desire for peace and dialogue expressed by the US president is at odds with the hostile and criminal behavior of the United States towards the Iranian people,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
During a Monday speech at the Israeli Knesset, Trump said he wanted a peace deal with Iran and that the ball was in Tehran’s court for any agreement to come to pass.
In its statement, Iran dismissed the call.
“How can one attack the residential areas and nuclear facilities of a country in the midst of political negotiations, kill more than 1,000 people including innocent women and children, and then demand peace and friendship?” the foreign ministry asked.
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Trump also said “nothing would do more good” for the region than for Iran’s leaders “to renounce terrorists, stop threatening their neighbors, quit funding their militant proxies, and finally recognize Israel’s right to exist.”
US President Donald Trump at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on October 13, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Tehran struck back, calling the remarks “irresponsible and shameful” and accusing the United States of being “a leading producer of terrorism and a supporter of the terrorist and genocidal Zionist regime.”
“The United States… has no moral authority to accuse others,” Iran’s foreign ministry said.
In June, the US joined Israel in striking Iranian nuclear facilities after five rounds of indirect nuclear talks with Tehran that stalled over issues including nuclear enrichment.
Trump told the Knesset Monday that Iran “took a big hit” in the 12-day war, but that it would be great if a peace deal could be hammered out between Iran and Israel.
An Iranian man holds an anti-Israeli placard during a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in Tehran, on October 2, 2025. (AFP)
Israel said its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites and ballistic missile program was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy Israel.
Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel said Iran had recently taken steps toward weaponization.
Iran retaliated to Israel’s strikes by launching over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones at Israel.
The attacks killed 32 people in Israel — the most recent death was Monday when 76-year-old Aharon Mizrahi succumbed to his wounds sustained in a missile strike in Ramat Gan — and injured over 3,000.
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