ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – US President Donald Trump on Friday threatened Iran to act speedily in responding to a proposed deal by his administration regarding Tehran’s nuclear program, warning “something bad will happen” should they not make haste.

Speaking as he capped off his diplomatic tour of the Gulf that saw staggering investment deals announced, Trump said that his proposal had been sent to Iran and "they know they have to move quickly or something bad is going to happen."

The fiery comments come as Iranian leaders on Friday met with European representatives to discuss the country’s nuclear program, which Tehran has long insisted remains wholly restricted to peaceful uses.

Trump has repeatedly alternated between aggression and conciliation in his dialogue regarding Iran and the prospective deal, with his Friday threat coming only days after he said that “We are not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran… I think we are getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday reacted to Trump’s inflammatory comments by stating that Tehran would not “bow down to any bully.”

“[Trump] thinks he can come here, chant slogans, and scare us. For us, martyrdom is far sweeter than dying in bed. You came to frighten us? We will not bow to any bully,” Pezeshkian said on Iranian state TV.

Trump, during his first presidential term in 2018, walked away from a landmark nuclear deal with Iran, which was introduced three years earlier in 2015 by his predecessor Barack Obama. Known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal provided sanctions relief to Iran in exchange for the placement of curbs on Iran’s nuclear program.