In an interview today, US President Donald Trump seemed less confident about the prospect of the US reaching a deal on Iran’s uranium enrichment plans
Donald Trump has issued a chilling warning to Iran, saying the country will never have a nuclear weapon whether a deal is reached or not. Trump – who was speaking on the Pod Force One podcast Monday – seemed to suggest the US could take further action should a deal not be reached during upcoming talks.
He said he was less confident the Islamic Republic would agree to stop enriching uranium. When asked if he could shut down Iran’s nuclear programme, he said: “I don’t know. I don’t know. I did think so, and I’m getting more and more — less confident about it.”
The deal-making president had sought to limit Tehran’s nuclear activities – and has even threatened to level the country with US bombs should a deal not be reached. The Islamic Republic has repeatedly claimed it is only enriching uranium for civilian uses.
He told the podcaster the Iranians appear to be trying to delay the proceedings, but added that Iran “is not going to have a nuclear weapon” whether a deal is reached or not.
Washington and Tehran have already gone through five rounds of negotiations, and it’s expected that Iran will reject an American proposal this week.
Without a deal with the U.S., Iran’s long-ailing economy could enter a freefall that could worsen the simmering unrest at home. Israel or the U.S. might carry out long-threatened airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities.
Experts fear Tehran in response could decide to fully end its cooperation with the IAEA, abandon the the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and rush toward a bomb.
If a deal is reached — or at least a tentative understanding between the two sides — that likely will take the pressure off for an immediate military strike by the U.S. Gulf Arab states, which opposed Obama’s negotiations with Iran in 2015, now welcome the talks under Trump. Any agreement would require the IAEA’s inspectors to verify Iran’s compliance.
But Israel, which has struck at Iranian-backed militants across the region, remains a wildcard on what it could do. Last year, it carried out its first military airstrikes on Iran — and has warned it is willing to take action alone to target Tehran’s program, like it has in the past in Iraq in 1981 or Syria in 2007.
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