Trump: Time running out as ‘massive armada’ heads to Iran, next strike will be ‘far worse’

Iran’s Araghchi says not in contact with Witkoff, but intermediaries holding consultations; watchdog says 6,126 killed in crackdown, further 17,091 possible deaths under investigation

US President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday that time was running out for Iran, and that the next potential US attack on the Islamic Republic — if Tehran doesn’t make a nuclear deal — would be far worse than the June 2025 strikes. “Don’t make that happen again,” he warned.

Trump has threatened military intervention against Iran over its crackdown on protests, which rights groups say killed thousands. However, rhetoric on the issue has shifted in recent days so that the threat of military action is hanging over Tehran unless it returns to the talks on the issue of its contentious nuclear program.

“A massive Armada is heading to Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela. Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.”

The USS Abraham Lincoln and accompanying warships arrived in the Middle East on Monday to boost the US’s available firepower and defensive capabilities in the region.

Trump said that he hopes that Tehran will “quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties.”

“Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!” Trump stressed. “As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL!”

“They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran,” Trump wrote, referring to the US strikes at the end of Israel’s 12-day war on Iran in June.

“The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” wrote Trump.

Tehran has previously said a channel of communication is open between Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff, despite the lack of diplomatic relations between the two foes.

However, on Wednesday Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that he had not been in contact with Witkoff in recent days, though intermediaries were holding consultations.

“There was no contact between me and Witkoff in recent days and no request for negotiations was made from us,” Araghchi told state media, adding that various intermediaries were “holding consultations” and were in contact with Tehran.

“Our stance is clear, negotiations don’t go along with threats and talks can only take place when there are no longer menaces and excessive demands,” he said.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s top diplomat urged Washington to restart nuclear talks with Iran.

“It’s wrong to attack Iran. It’s wrong to start the war again. Iran is ready to negotiate on the nuclear file again,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television in English.

“My advice has always been to our American friends: close the files one by one with the Iranians. Start with the nuclear issue and close it. Then move on to the others,” he said.

Fidan said the problems with Iran should be tackled individually.

“Do not treat them as a package. If you put everything together as one package, it will be very difficult for our Iranian friends to digest and truly process it,” he said. “In some cases, it may even seem humiliating for them. It would be hard to explain not only to themselves but also to their leadership.”

Fidan also urged Iran to build trust in the region.

“When I was in Iran two months ago, I was very frank with my Iranian friends. They need to build trust in the region,” he said. “They need to pay attention to how they are perceived by regional countries.”

Since Iran launched its crackdown on protests earlier this month, accompanied by a blanket internet blackout, Trump has given mixed signals on intervention, which some opponents of Tehran’s clerical leadership see as the only way to bring about change.

Analysts say options include strikes on military facilities or targeted attacks against the leadership under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a bid to bring down the system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the shah.

Tehran has said in the past that it would target Israel and US military targets in the Middle East if Trump were to order strikes.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that “Trump will decide what he decides; the State of Israel will decide what it decides.” But, he added, if Iran attacked Israel, “we will respond with a force that Iran has never seen.”

‘Mass arrests, intimidation’

As the regime carried out its brutal crackdown, Trump vowed earlier this month that “help is on the way,” and said he would take action against the regime if it began killing protesters en masse. While Trump backed down after he said Iran decided not to execute protesters, he has maintained that he may still take action.

Rights groups have described the crackdown as the deadliest-ever against protests in Iran, and warn that compiling tolls of victims has been complicated by an almost three-week internet blackout they say is aimed at masking the extent of the repression.

Monitor Netblocks on Tuesday reported intermittent connectivity but warned internet access remained “heavily filtered on a whitelist basis” and users would still need workarounds.

In an updated toll, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had confirmed that 6,126 people had been killed, including 5,777 protesters, 86 minors, 214 members of the security forces and 49 bystanders.

But the group, which has an extensive network of sources inside Iran and has tracked the protests on a daily basis since they began, added it was still investigating another 17,091 possible fatalities.

At least 41,880 people have been arrested, it said.

“Security agencies continue to pursue an approach centred on mass arrests, intimidation, and control of the narrative,” HRANA said.

Over the weekend, Persian-language TV channel Iran International, which is based outside Iran, said more than 36,500 Iranians were killed by security forces on January 8 and 9, citing reports, documents and sources.

It was not immediately possible to verify the report.