President Trump said on Wednesday that he would bomb Iran again if the country restarted its nuclear enrichment program, but he insisted that he doesn’t think that will happen.
The president made the comments on Sunday at the NATO summit in The Hague. When asked if Tehran rebuilding its enrichment facilities would prompt more US strikes, Trump replied, “Sure. But I’m not going to have to worry about that. It’s gone for years.”
When asked how long he thinks the US bombing set back Iran’s nuclear program, Trump said, “I think it’s basically decades, because I don’t think they’ll ever do it again. I think they’ve had it. I mean, they just went through hell. They’ve had it. The last thing they want to do is enrich anything right now. They want to recover.”
Iranian officials have vowed they would continue uranium enrichment following the US attack, but it’s unclear how long it would take for Iran to restart the program. Trump is claiming the US bombing “obliterated” the three nuclear facilities that were targeted, while a preliminary intelligence assessment said it didn’t destroy the core of the sites and set back the nuclear program by only a few months, which the president and his top officials have rejected.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard insisted on Wednesday that new intelligence confirms Trump’s claims and that the assessment that was widely reported on was written with “low confidence.” Gabbard said that if the Iranians “chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordow, Esfahan) entirely, which would likely take years to do.”
Trump also claimed on Wednesday that the US and Iran will hold negotiations next week, although so far there’s been no confirmation from the Iranian side. He said that a nuclear deal may not be necessary now that Iran’s facilities have been destroyed.
“We may sign an agreement. To me, I don’t think it’s that necessary. They had a war, they fought, and now they’re going back to their world. I don’t care if I have an agreement or not,” the president said. “We destroyed the nuclear.”
