U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, proposing the negotiation of a deal that would prevent Tehran acquiring a nuclear weapon. Although the contents of the letter were not released, Trump stated publicly that the alternative to a deal was military action.

The Central Bank of Iraq banned five domestic banks from facilitating U.S. dollar transactions following meetings in Dubai with representatives of the U.S. Federal Reserve and Treasury Department. Iraqi banks are often used by Iranian actors as a source of a hard currency and a means to evade U.S. sanctions. The banned banks are Al-Mashreq Al-Arabi Islamic Bank, United Bank for Investment, Al Sanam Islamic Bank, Misk Islamic Bank, and Amin Iraq For Islamic Investment and Finance. The restrictions also cover three Iraqi payment services firms: Amawl, AL-Saqi Payment, and Aqsa Payment.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) took delivery of the nation’s first ship capable of launching drones and helicopters, according to IRGC Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri. The ship, called the Shahid Beheshti, is a modified container vessel. It has a 180 meter runway and can reportedly launch and retrieve larger Iranian drones, such as the Qaher. The ship also holds fast-attack craft, unmanned submarines, and short-range anti-ship cruise missiles.

Iran is directing a team of scientists and weapons engineers to explore a faster way to convert the country's stockpile of highly enriched uranium into a workable nuclear weapon, according to U.S. intelligence. This approach would rely on an older-style nuclear weapon design that could not be miniaturized to fit on a ballistic missile, rather than the more sophisticated design Iran received from Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan. This shortcut approach might cut the development timeline for a weapon down to a few months from the current U.S. and Israeli estimates of between one to two years.