US President Donald Trump reiterated his position that he would rather reach a deal with Iran on its nuclear program than have Israel attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Trump made the comments in an interview with Fox News which aired on Monday night.
“Everyone thinks Israel, with our help or our approval, will go in and bomb the hell out of [Iran]. I would prefer that not happen. I'd much rather see a deal with Iran where we can do a deal, supervise, check it, inspect it, and then blow it up or just make sure that there's no more nuclear,” said the President, who described the 2015 Iran nuclear deal which was signed during the Obama administration as “the dumbest deal.”
“By the way, that would have expired by now. That was a road to a nuclear weapon. It was a short-term deal. You can't make a deal with just a few years on it. That deal would be expired by now. Think of it. And they would have a legal right to have a nuclear weapon. You cannot allow Iran, or just about anybody else, by the way, but especially Iran, because they are very militant. You can't allow them to have a nuclear weapon,” he stressed.
“But there's two ways of stopping them, with bombs or with a written piece of paper. And I'd much rather do a deal that's a deal that's not going to hurt them,” continued Trump.
“I think that Iran is very concerned. I think that Iran is very frightened, to be honest with you, because their defense is pretty much gone,” he said. “They've had some very bad moments. The whole thing with the [Hezbollah] pagers was a disaster for them. The pagers, you know what I'm talking about. It was a horrible thing, but it was, you know, it knocked out a lot of leadership like nobody's ever seen before. But I think Iran is very nervous. I think they're scared. I think Iran would love to make a deal, and I would love to make a deal with them without bombing them,” he stated.
Trump made similar comments in an interview with The New York Post which was published on Sunday.
“I would like a deal done with Iran... I would prefer that to bombing the hell out of it. . . . They don’t want to die. Nobody wants to die,” Trump said in that interview, adding, “If we made the deal, Israel wouldn’t bomb them.”
In 2018, during his first term in office, Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, reinstating strict US sanctions as part of his "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran.
In response, Iran has taken many steps to scale back its compliance with the deal.
In its latest step to advance its nuclear program, Iran recently informed the IAEA of its intention to "significantly increase" its production of uranium enriched up to 60 percent.
In his second term, Trump has reaffirmed his “maximum pressure” approach against Iran, and this past week imposed financial sanctions on individuals and entities accused of facilitating the shipment of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian crude oil to China.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, last week cautioned the government against engaging in talks with Washington, describing such a move as “reckless.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi made clear on Saturday that Iran is open to negotiations with the United States but not under Trump’s “maximum pressure” strategy.
“The lifting of sanctions requires negotiations, but not within the framework of a ‘maximum pressure’ policy, because it would not be a negotiation but a form of surrender,” Araqchi stated in a message published on Telegram.