WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Thursday dismissed a report that he waived off a planned Israeli attack on Iran but warned that Iran needs to negotiate while it “has a chance to become a great country without death.”
The bottom line, Trump said, is that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.
Trump, answering questions Thursday from reporters in the Oval Office, was asked about a report by The New York Times that Israel had planned to strike Iranian nuclear sites as soon as next month but was waved off by President Trump in recent weeks in favor of negotiating a deal with Tehran to limit its nuclear program.
“I wouldn’t say waved off,” Trump replied. “I’m not in a rush to do it because I think that Iran has a chance to become a great country and to live happily without death, and I’d like to see that.
“That’s my first option. If there’s a second option, I think it would be very bad for Iran, and I think Iran is wanting to talk,” Trump said. “I hope they’re wanting to talk. It’s going to be very good for them if they do. I’d like to see Iran thrive in the future, do fantastically well.”
According to The Times, Israeli officials developed plans to attack Iranian nuclear sites in May and were prepared to carry them out, and at times were optimistic that the United States would sign off. The goal of the proposals, according to officials briefed on them, was to set back Tehran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon by a year or more.
Nearly all of the plans would have required U.S. help to defend Israel from Iranian retaliation and to ensure that an Israeli attack was successful, making the United States a central part of the attack itself, The Time said. Trump, though, chose diplomacy over military action.
Talks between Iran and the United States over Iran’s nuclear program now are “in a very crucial” stage, the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Thursday while on a visit to the Islamic Republic.
The stakes of negotiations planned for Saturday are high, Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency told The Associated Press, given wider geopolitical tensions in the Mideast, particularly as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in the Gaza Strip. Trump repeatedly has threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.
Trump, on Thursday, said he hopes an agreement can be reached, but also alluded to the use of force if negotiations break down.
“I’d like to see Iran thrive, and they can do that, I think very easily, or they can do it the other way, and the other way is not going to be good for them. It’s going to be really bad for them,” the president said.
“I don’t want to do anything that’s going to hurt anybody. I really don’t,” Trump said. “But Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon. It’s simple. Pretty simple. We’re not looking to take their industry. We’re not looking to take their land. All we’re saying is, ‘You can’t have a nuclear weapon.’”