Trump: I Will Not Allow Iran to Obtain Nuclear Weapons

The President of the United States said he is not seeking war with Iran, but at the same time will not allow the Islamic Republic to obtain nuclear weapons. Trump had threatened Iran with destruction in a tweet message in case of confrontation.

Donald Trump, the President of the United States, said in a television interview with Fox News on the evening of Sunday, May 19 (29 Ordibehesht) that he is not seeking confrontation with Iran, but at the same time will not allow the Islamic Republic to obtain nuclear weapons.

This comes as Trump wrote in a tweet message the previous evening: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of it.” He also warned the Islamic Republic to “never” threaten the United States.

The message was posted shortly after a Katyusha rocket landed near the US embassy in Baghdad, but according to US and Iraqi officials, it did not cause any casualties.

It is unclear whether Trump’s tweet was a reaction to the missile attack on Baghdad’s Green Zone or a response to recent statements by Islamic Republic officials. Hossein Salami, the Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said the previous day that “Iran’s enemies do not have the will to fight and are afraid of war.” He also said: “We are not seeking war, but we do not fear war and we are prepared.”

Following the missile attack on Baghdad’s Green Zone, the US State Department announced that Washington will not tolerate such attacks and will respond to them “decisively.” According to the department, if “such attacks are carried out by Iran-backed militia forces or elements affiliated with these forces,” America will hold Tehran responsible.

Trump emphasized in his conversation with Fox News: “I am not seeking confrontation. But there is a situation like Iran. I cannot allow them to obtain nuclear weapons. Under no circumstances can such a thing be allowed to happen.”

The US President also added: “I am not someone who enters into another war. War damages our economy, but more importantly, people are killed as a result of war.”

Trump: Iran is Economically Devastated

Donald Trump, in another part of his remarks, said that when he took office as President of the United States, “14 or 15 regions in the Middle East” were engaged in war as a result of “Iran’s provocation and financial assistance,” but his action to withdraw from the JCPOA has caused Iran to now be “economically devastated.”

The US President has in recent days paired his pressure on the Islamic Republic through imposing new sanctions and intensifying presence in the Middle East with signals for negotiations with Iran. He believes that his administration’s “maximum pressure” policy will bring the Islamic Republic to the negotiating table. Trump expressed confidence on Wednesday last week that “Iran will soon seek negotiations.”

On the other hand, however, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, while denying the outbreak of war between Iran and the US, has rejected negotiations with the Trump administration as “double poison.”

Trump seeks to renegotiate the nuclear agreement with Iran and the Islamic Republic’s compliance with this country’s atomic program. The US President also seeks to limit Iran’s missile program and halt its activities in critical Middle Eastern regions, which he refers to as “interference” and “destabilizing the region.”

Tensions between the Islamic Republic and the United States peaked a week earlier on the anniversary of America’s announcement of its withdrawal from the JCPOA by Trump. Washington imposed further sanctions against Iran’s metal and mining industries, and Tehran announced it would no longer adhere to some of its commitments under the JCPOA.

Following the escalation of tensions between the Islamic Republic and the United States, America sent its aircraft carrier “Abraham Lincoln” and “B-52” bombers to the Persian Gulf waters. The reason for this action was stated to be “threats from Iran.”

Washington also announced on Wednesday last week that it will withdraw a large number of its diplomats from Iraq whose presence there is not “necessary.” US government sources, who did not want their names revealed, cited the threat posed by Iraqi militias that take orders from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Islamic Republic officials, however, have rejected American accusations of “threats from Iran.” Among them, the Islamic Republic’s representation at the United Nations on Thursday last week described America’s order for the withdrawal of “non-essential” employees from Iraq as “the latest curtain of America’s propaganda war against Iran using fraudulent intelligence reports […] in order to provide a pretext for a possible confrontation.”

Despite this, on Saturday, in addition to the withdrawal of American employees from Iraq, it was announced that American oil company ExxonMobil also withdrew its foreign employees from the country and transferred them to Dubai. In the meantime, some European countries, including Germany and Britain, have warned of the danger of an “unwanted war” in the Middle East.

Source: DW