President Donald Trump may prefer a diplomatic solution to stop Iran’s creep toward a nuclear weapon, but claimed he’ll be “leading the pack” to war with the regime if talks falter.
“I think we’re going to make a deal with Iran,” he told Time Magazine in an interview published Friday, while claiming that President Joe Biden had allowed Iran to “become rich.”
Asked whether he was worried Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might drag him into a war with Iran, Trump said no. “By the way, he may go into a war. But we’re not getting dragged in.”
“You asked if he’d drag me in, like I’d go in unwillingly. No, I may go in very willingly if we can’t get a deal. If we don’t make a deal, I’ll be leading the pack,” the president explained.
Trump was asked about reports that he’d stopped Netanyahu from striking Iran after an Oval Office meeting earlier this month.
“That’s not right,” he said.
“I didn’t stop them. But I didn’t make it comfortable for them, because I think we can make a deal without the attack. I hope we can. It’s possible we’ll have to attack, because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. But I didn’t make it comfortable for them, but I didn’t say no. Ultimately I was going to leave that choice to them, but I said I would much prefer a deal than bombs being dropped.”
A team of U.S. officials will meet with Iranian counterparts in Oman on Saturday to continue negotiations aimed at stopping Tehran’s nuclear advancement.
Trump has said that his red line is Iran having a nuclear weapon. Enriching uranium well beyond civilian-use levels to 60%, Iran is just shy of the 90% levels needed for a weapon.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week Iran could use a specified amount of low-level enriched uranium for civil nuclear programs, but it would have to be imported.
During a phone call on Tuesday, Netanyahu told Trump he “does not rule out” a diplomatic approach to Iran, but only one that would “leave no trace” of Iran’s nuclear program, according to Israeli media.
Trump is set to travel to the Middle East next month, to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and expressed optimism that he could broker a normalization deal between Israel and the Saudi Kingdom.
“I think Saudi Arabia will go into the Abraham Accords,” Trump said. “I think it will be full very quickly.”
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