U.S. President Donald Trump expressed a willingness to negotiate a deal with Iran during a speech to the Israeli parliament on October 13, 2025. This overture comes in the wake of a direct, 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June 2025, a conflict that saw the United States conduct military strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities .
In his address to the Knesset, President Trump stated that the United States is prepared to engage with Iran. "The hand of friendship and cooperation is open," he said, adding, "I'm telling you, they (Iran) want to make a deal... it would be great if we could make a deal" . He emphasized that the ball is in Tehran's court, saying, "We are ready when you are and it will be the best decision that Iran has ever made" .
However, Trump also reiterated a fundamental demand, noting that "there's nothing that would do more good for this part of the world than for Iran's leaders to renounce terrorists...and finally recognise Israel's right to existence".
The offer for diplomacy follows a period of significant military confrontation. In June 2025, Israel initiated a war by conducting a surprise bombing campaign against military and nuclear facilities in Iran . The United States joined the conflict days later, with U.S. B-2 bombers striking key Iranian nuclear sites, including the fortified enrichment facility at Fordow . This 12-day war resulted in a ceasefire on June 24, but not before causing extensive damage and thousands of casualties .
This military conflict occurred after five rounds of nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran had already faced major obstacles . A central point of contention was the Western powers' demand to reduce uranium enrichment on Iranian soil to zero, a plan Tehran has consistently rejected, with them saying it is their right to enrich uranium.
Iranian officials have shown a conditional openness to diplomacy but have firmly rejected the premise of normalizing relations with Israel. Just days before Trump's speech, Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, welcomed the potential for a "fair and balanced" U.S. proposal but stated that Tehran had not yet received any concrete starting points for negotiation .
On the day of Trump's Knesset address, Araqchi publicly declined an invitation to attend a peace summit in Egypt, posting on X that Iranian leaders could not "engage with counterparts who have attacked the Iranian people and continue to threaten and sanction us" . He also explicitly dismissed the notion of recognizing Israel, calling it "wishful thinking" and stating, "Iran will never recognise an occupying regime that has committed genocide and killed children".