If an agreement with Iran to limit its nuclear program is elusive, the United States could go to the army against it, said President Trump in an interview published on Friday.
The comments of Mr. Trump, in an interview with Time Magazine marking his first three months in power, came when American and Iranian officials had to meet for the third consecutive Saturday in an effort to conclude an agreement that would prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
After asking if he was worried that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel did not hang him in a war with Iran, Trump said: “I can go very willingly if we cannot get an agreement. If we do not conclude an agreement, I will run the peloton.”
Trump said he thought that talks between the United States and Iran were going well, but that those responsible on both sides had not carried out a breakthrough.
Mr. Netanyahu expressed his opening to diplomacy if it leads to the complete dismantling of the Iranian nuclear program – a request that Iranian officials have rejected. Some Israeli officials have expressed concerns about the United States to accept an agreement that leaves part of the Iranian nuclear program in place.
Netanyahu avoided public confrontation with Mr. Trump, but has published a number of public statements claiming that Israel will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.
Last week, the New York Times reported that Israel had planned an attack on Iranian nuclear sites, but had been retained by Mr. Trump, who expressed his support for the attempt to negotiate an agreement with Iran first. Israeli officials suggested that American support for such strikes were crucial, both to ensure successful execution and to protect Israel from an Iranian response.
Trump said he hadn’t prevented Israel from attacking Iran, but “did not make him comfortable.”
“In the end, I was going to leave this choice to them, but I said that I prefer an agreement that the abandoned bombs,” he said.
Trump also said that he was open to meeting Iran’s supreme chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, or his president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
